Using Melco as a Roon Endpoint

Hi! Sorry really late response.

but just sent my melco N1a to Luxman America for replacing hard discs and I did the upgrade.  Connecting my Roon nucleus via the usb dac controller was easy .  
works great connected to my moon 390 Dac.  
sound is still clearly better than using the Roon internal memory (a Samsung ssd)

happy to give more advice but I think the upgrade works good and does just what I wanted!

@labowma1 

So having upgraded your N1A to an EX, are you now using it as a Roon streamer, i.e. with the Melco connected via USB to your DAC.   

My question then, is the sound quality better than using the Roon Nucleus as a server/streamer connected to your DAC, while using the Melco as your NAS? 

Hi! Well I only started doing the comparison last night.

it’s pretty easy to do as you can go back and forth with versions on the nelco cs the nucleus internal storage.  My feeling is almost every track was better on the melco with either 16 or 24 but material.  Some caveats:

-i have not compared the SQ of melco files through the nucleus vs using the melco Music app (only on iPad).  I have read and think that the melco only might sound a wee bit better.  But of course the melco ap is bare bones.

-i was listening to the nucleus files while on USB so not sure it wasn’t routing those files through the melco which complicated the SQ.

-Confirmation bias:  I just spent 500 dollars for the upgrade (it was a little cheaper as I was paying to have bad disc drives replaced.

anyway I have always found files stored on the melco to sound  superior . The nucleus with a quiet SSD does sound good especially if you connect it to your dac via a hood USB cable .   But no matter how expensive the  cable Ethernet or USB I prefer the Melco.  And the upgraded N1a iS a bargain now considering its large capacity (mine is now 6 tb with two new 3 tb drives). 
 

im loving having the nucleus control the melco.  Best of both worlds!

PS I do find all sounds better through the USB connection to your DAC.  With the current set up I can trade in my 800 dollar audioquest éthernet cable!