Melco N5 Digital Music Library

The N5 is an all new model from Melco which was premiered at the Munich High End Show 2023

As you can see from the images Melco have styled the N5 around the flagship N1. It is all new internally with a new main board, new power supply (superior to that in the N50, but not the same PSU that is in the N1) and it comes with a 5TB HDD so it has ample storage space.

The N5 offers 3 USB ports – on the rear there are 2 USB DAC ports (one rated at USB 2.00, the other at USB 3.00) giving a wider range of compatibility with more DAC’s than ever before. There is also a further USB socket on the front of the N5, more than enough for most users.

There is the same LAN and Player Ethernet sockets – although they have now been upgraded to neutrik style sockets and critically the N1 also has a single SFP Fibre socket so if you already own an S100 or S10 you can do away with Ethernet altogether and connect to your network via Fibre. The S100 and S10 both have 2 SFP sockets with if you are using an ADOT fibre kit you can now run Fibre right through.

A high-performance power connection is also specified, using an EMC-filtered IEC connector giving true system ground reference. The N5-H50’s power supply uses multistage linear regulation following a high-specification audio-grade toroidal transformer on a special vibration-cushion mount device.

The menu system is same as previous Melco models although the N5 is running with new firmware and we have Minimserver 2 and Twonky UPnP servers, SongKong and it remains Roon Ready as well as having the same auto-downloader functions from High Res Audio and Qobuz.

When connected to a USB DAC Tidal and Qobuz streaming are available as ever.

The fit and finish is superb, it looks like an N1, but it’s not quite the same but you look carefully, but still a beautiful design.

I had the opportunity to play with an N5 in December 2022 and in it is very impressive, a clear step up over an N1ZH (whatever version) and a N50 too.

Available in black or silver and as ever part exchange is welcome!