For me the ability to play crisp and crystal clear high pitch sounds without adding any amount of harshness was maybe the most noticeable change. This was especially obvious when playing the first set of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's recording of Sergei Profiev's Symphony No 1 (Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1; Violin Concerto No. 2; Five Melodies for Solo Violin & Strings). This excellent recording conveys this special interpretation by the Chamber Orchestra with precise focus and amazing spaciousness. Especially the bassoons that at the beginning play together with the strings stand out better, and can be heard clearer than before. The amount of detail that the Melco N1A manages to reveal together with the Ayon S3 is simply astonishing. Equally impressive is the clear and very natural rendering of voices with every track I tried. With 'And The Boy' (Angus & Julia Stone: Down the way) Julia Stone's fragile voice doesn't drown in the full-bodied low end, on the contrary. The very distinct qualities of her voice are clearly audible all the time. I heard a similar effect, but even more noticeable, when listening to Diana Krall's crystal clear vocals in 'Tempatation'. (Diana Krall: Girl In The Other Room).

The Melco N1A proved to be very relieable and extremely versatile in every-day use. For example I temporarily connected a PS Audio Direct Stream DAC via USB. My PlugPlayer App made it extremely easy to switch playback between the Ayon and the DirectStream, as well as play music from my own server instead of from the N1A. I tried this in all combinations I could think of and they all worked flawlessly. And, more importantly, it was always immediately obvious wether or not the N1A was in some way part of the playback chain. The limpid purity that the Melco adds to any musical performance was always clearly noticeable at once. There is no doubt in my mind – even in the age of digital music streaming good sound still starts at the source. If you thought all kinds of storage sound the same because it's digital, the Melco N1A will make you think again. It combines NAS junctionality, ease-of-use and sound quality in a truly impressive way!