Thanks to Melco, I haven't played my ripped CDs and high-resolution audio files on a computer for years. In the meantime, the Japanese digital specialists offer not only various music servers and network players, but also a switch optimized for audio applications.

In my wife's chain located in the living room an N1A 60HA/2 provides the data, while in the my listening room it's an N1Z 60HA/2 taking over the job, and for ripping CDs my colleagues and I use the D100 transport, our so-called „editorial ripper“. Since I am utterly convinced by Melco’s triumvirate, I tried to get hold of the Switch as quick as possible. Roland Dietl already described the extent to which a representative of this guild can contribute to a harmonious sound three years ago in the first review of the Aqvox AQ-Switch-8. With the SE version, Aqvox designer Norman Lübke proved that it can be done even better. The Telegärtner M12 Switch Gold then lifted my digital chain to an even higher level – but it required a quite considerable investment and the conversion to LAN cables with M12 connectors on one end. After that, there were no qualms at all: Roland Dietl reviewed SOtM's switch, the sNH-10G, in a setting of the brand's components and did not shy away from connecting the 10 megahertz clock sCLK-OCX10 for clocking the switch - and got so enthusiastic about its effect on his digital playback chain that I tried the set in my system as well. And again, I found myself entirely convinced. Maybe it's hard to convey to other music lovers or analogue afficionados, but my colleague and I have each purchased a SOtM set for our systems: After all, we still want to be able to reach those potential pinnacles of musical enjoyment with what once started as "computer hi-fi".

But let’s step back to Melco’s S100. To get a better understanding of the matter, it might be helpful to briefly recall the roots of the company, even if I had already mentioned them in the article about the HA-1NA: Back in the 70's there existed a sensational Japanese turntable whose modular construction can be considered as the paragon of some non-suspended turntables introduced hereinafter. Makoto Maki had designed it, whose last name also stands for the first letter within the company name: Maki Electronic Laboratory Company or, in short, Melco. In the meantime, his company developed into the largest manufacturer of computer peripherals in Japan. Wireless routers, Ethernet data switches and storage media are offered under the brand name Buffalo. So Melco or Buffalo respectively should have sufficient competence in the field of switches. It’s therefore not really surprising that the Japanese digital specialists take a completely different approach than the manufacturers of all the switches mentioned above.

Alan Ainslie, Melco's General Manager for Europe, sums up the special features of the S100 as follows:

• The fundamental secret of the S100's sonic performance is its architecture.
• Connections 1 to 4 work with 100 megabits: they always sound better than those with 1 gigabit, even if you wouldn't change anything else.
• The clock is not important, provided it's not really bad.
• What’s important is the way the data packets are processed internally in the S100.
• Melco has succeeded in carefully identifying the audio packets and optimizing the quality of service (QoS) for ports 1 to 4 for providing connectivity to network players and streamers.
• Some applications, such as a Roon Core, require more than 100 megabits of capacity, and that's why the S100 also has a section that carefully manages audio packets in a 1-gigabit environment. This avoids losses in sound quality that are otherwise normal with a Roon Core.
• The mechanical design is also crucial to the performance of the switch. This had been already experienced during the development of IT switches.
• Switches react very sensitively to the power supply. The S100 therefore features internally several low-noise controllers and a bank of audio-quality capacitors. Nevertheless, improvements are still possible with SBooster or Plixir linear power supplies.
• Routers are anything but audiophile. Therefore a router should be connected to ports 5 to 8. Melco has found some clever solutions to improve the sound quality of connected cloud servers like TIDAL on the further signal path.
• Routers are usually supplied by internet providers and are optimized for video streaming, as the providers also generate revenue from this. Melco therefore improves the audio performance of the switch by using a massive packet buffer of 1.5 megabit.
• The two optical SFP inputs are future-proof and constitute another big step forward in the use of media converters. Simon Nash, the designer of the MinimServer is an expert on this. I am still learning from him.
• For best sound performance, all indicator lights on the ports can be disabled.

Mika Dauphin, the director of „Drei H Vertriebs GmbH“, which handles the Melco distribution in Germany, sent me an S100 and would have also added a 12-volt SBooster linear power supply, but I am already using one in my listening room with our editorial ripping machine. He also asked me to have the new switch burnt-in for a few days before any critical appraisal – a request that would probably have caused headshaking or amusement ten years ago, but which I am happy to comply with today. To perform this, I simply implemented the Melco with the included switching power supply instead of the SOtM switch and let it run continuously for a few days. I noticed that the Melco's LAN sockets are positioned much closer together than those of the SOtM: With these four connectors, only two of my currently preferred Goebel Lacorde Statement LAN cables can be connected . But that's fair enough: The router is connected to one of the 1-gigabit ports and the cables coming from the Melco N1Z H60/2 and the Auralic G1 to two of the 100 megabit ports.

Without comparing to the SOtM switch and by merely using the standard power supply, my first impression of the S100 was very promising. So during the installation phase there was no reason for me to change anything. I therefore was allowed to spend my time getting used to other test objects – each weighing 200 kilograms and blessed with an efficiency of about 97 decibels per watt and meter – to the extent that I was able to make reliable statements about changes in the connected chain even with them. The first update to the system of course comprised the change from the Melco S100’s standard power supply to the SBooster. Already after the first few tones of the inevitable song from Michel Godard's Le Concert Des Parfums came up it was clear that my prior contentment solely rested on the fact that I couldn’t have guessed what kind of large sonic image the Soundspace Systems Pirol were able to depict. But not only the three-dimensionality and physical size of the recording location benefited from the Melco’s analogue power supply: richness in detail, fine resolution and fine dynamics performed at a higher level as well. But that shouldn't surprise you at all: Up to this day the power supplies from the Dutch company never failed to provide a bigger sonic enhancement than one would expect at their price. And the combination with the S100 is no exception to the rule.

In conjunction with the Melco Switch plus SBooster, the system performs so openly, rhythmically intriguing and indulges with such large – imaginary? – spaces, that I am perfectly happy and can therefore hardly imagine what the SOtM switch and the clock could do even better. But the duo really succeeds in adding a touch of more airiness and finesse to the performance, as well as slightly increasing also the dimensions of the soundstage – these being clear sonic advantages for me, even if they turn out to be quite marginal. But I also understand anyone who prefers the Melco's somewhat more gripping, down-to-earth attitude and minimally brighter tonality. But it doesn't matter whether you consider – as I do – the differences between the switches to range within small quality improvements or to be more a matter of taste: Especially with regard to the price tag, the Melco Switch "sounds" forbiddingly good!

For some time now, the digital playback system in the listening room has only established contacts with my audio network, this being separated from the Internet, in order to keep interference out. The router solely communicates with the iPad to control the Aries G1. An Aries Femto and two Minis located in other rooms receive not only the music files from a Melco N1A 60HA/2 via a second network, but also music data from Qobuz. This is how I learned to appreciate the streaming service and I must say that I miss the access to it in my listening room already a little. Maybe the Melco Switch, thanks to the separate 1-gigabit and 100-megabit sections, will allow its users to benefit from streaming services without having to accept quality losses when playing files from the hard disk.

In preparation, I exchange the Goebel LAN cable between the router in the listening room and the Melco Switch for a very long standard cable and listen to some of my test tunes. Then I connect the cable to the Fritzbox, which is responsible for connecting to the internet. Already after a few tones it’s very clear: Even the S100 cannot do miracles. Thus avoiding the connection to the internet and using a rather old Belkin router for control via the iPad, the spatial imaging becomes even more intriguing and the performance turns out to be a little more dynamic. In an audio network without internet access and many other connected devices, the switch from Melco can show off its enormous potential even more impressively.