Music for all
Contents
It hasn’t been very long since we started to pick up our passion for CDs. So for the test of the Melody X we had a stack of CDs ready. The titles and artists were very different. From Dj Tiesto to The Eagles. But with the Melody X, access to music is not limited to the CD. Streaming – including high-res – is also possible. We’re connecting the Melody X to the network. This way we can use the HEOS integration and stream music from the NAS.
The all-in-one also gives us access to thousands of internet radio stations. Or DAB+, that is also possible with the Melody X. The choice is huge…
We start with trance and techno music, just nice electronic music. Damn, that sounds good!
The Melody X surprises us with a particularly tight reproduction in the bass. That proves once again how important it is to find the right speaker. A radio program we like to listen to is the BoomRoom. This is where we first heard Eelke Kleijn pass by years ago. We were immediately sold. We’re listening to the album Moments of Clarity. This is delicious. The combination of the Melody X with the B&W speakers turns out to be a good combination for electronic music. The details in the music are easy to hear and also the middle and low find their way in the listening room.
A big favorite of your editor for testing Hi-Fi remains Lavina Meijer. Her harp music can cause goose bumps, a shiver that can be felt to the depths of the soul. From the album Passagio, we listen Nuvole bianche in High-res. We stream this as a Flac file. The caressing sounds of the harp are rendered soft and supple by the Melody X. We hear the details, but miss a bit of the dot on the i’s. It listens nice and soft on the Melody X, but it just doesn’t touch us.
We listen all week and all kinds of music. Actually, it all sounds just fine, but without really excelling in anything. In our opinion, the Marantz prefers pop, electronic and jazz. But the other genres also sound just fine across the board. In that respect, the Marantz is an everybody’s friend and would be a perfect step for those who want to go from an ‘ordinary’ set to hi-fi. Or for those who want to switch from surround sound.
You can do better than that
When connecting and preparing the Marantz Melody X, the network part was a step in the process. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as easy as we thought. On the very extensive display, which by the way is very easy to use, we were asked to log in to our HEOS account. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. we thought we could get rid of it easily by simply installing the HEOS app on the phone. But that simplicity is unfortunately only available for Bluesound or for example Sonos. The HEOS user needs to take more steps (come on HEOS… do something about that…)
We reluctantly use the remote control and try to enter our data from the HEOS account. The last time we typed something this way was on a Nokia 3310.
Also the remote control could do a little better. It doesn’t make sense. After almost an hour of tinkering on the PC, phone and the Melody X itself. We give up hope. Strangely enough, it just seems to work at night. Shoot us but leak … i don’t know…!
We’ve had the HEOS app a couple of times before. We also consciously use the word frolicking. It just doesn’t feel right and intuitive. It works, but we have to learn to deal with it. With Bluesound and Sonos, it’s just different… better.