Melco released the S100 Network Data Switch in the spring of 2019 at the Munich show and it has been an incredibly strong performer ever since, it has been a very popular model being installed into all manner of streaming based systems, not just Melco based ones either.
Streaming has finally come of age as a serious source but unfortunately networks are noisy places and by removing that noise you can have quite a dramatic impact of the performance of your music.
Fast forward to the 1st of December 2022 and Melco have announced the release of the S100 Mk2 which further enhances the performance over the original with a number of small improvements brought about by the release of the flagship switch, the 2 box S10.
The S100 mk2 has the same number of sockets as the mk1, but the sockets on the new model have been reallocated, there are now 6 x Gigabit ports and 2 x 100Mb ports, it retains the 2 SFP sockets of the original.
The 100Mb ports generally deliver the best audio performance, but in reality most people will only 1 or 2 items that require connecting to these sockets, whereas the Gigabit sockets are used more frequently for other items – if used in a living there could easily be a Smart TV, Sky Box, Games Consoles, a Roon Core, your router connection (unless you use Fibre) so this change around of sockets makes a lot of sense.
My demo unit of the S100 mk2 will be unboxed and set up later today and some point over the coming days I’ll compare it to the mk1 model, which will be advertised for sale in due course to make way for the new model. The new model is at exactly the same price as the S100 mk1 which is £2099, I’ll upload some images to the post later today
If you have any questions regarding the S100 Mk2 or if you have another brand of switch you would like to trade in to step up to the new S100 please get in touch
