@zerofox,
I'm in agreement with those stating that different servers can dramatically improve your sound quality. Great power supplies and low power dedicated devices have an inherent advantage over devices doing multiple tasks, including most PCs and Macs. Standard computing drives(e.g. Western Digital) can work and sound fine in a NAS or other server. Aurenders, Innous, etc. will sound better than most other one piece servers if cost isn't much of a factor. For those of us on tighter budgets, a NAS in another room with standard drives and an optically isolated streamer like Sonore Rendu is sonically at or near the top class at a lower cost.
Software user experiences also vary widely, so I'd try to get a good idea if whatever is offered will satisfy you from an interface standpoint or you will not be happy in the long run. IMHO, the Roon experience can't be beat, but if you aren't interested, Aurelic, DCS and a few others satisfy many. Lumin is known for good hardware, but IME, there app, relying on standard DLNA/UPnP protocols can be a PITA maintaining network connectivity. It's free and works w/any DLNA/UPnp device, as do other apps from Linn and others. Cheers,
Spencer
I'm in agreement with those stating that different servers can dramatically improve your sound quality. Great power supplies and low power dedicated devices have an inherent advantage over devices doing multiple tasks, including most PCs and Macs. Standard computing drives(e.g. Western Digital) can work and sound fine in a NAS or other server. Aurenders, Innous, etc. will sound better than most other one piece servers if cost isn't much of a factor. For those of us on tighter budgets, a NAS in another room with standard drives and an optically isolated streamer like Sonore Rendu is sonically at or near the top class at a lower cost.
Software user experiences also vary widely, so I'd try to get a good idea if whatever is offered will satisfy you from an interface standpoint or you will not be happy in the long run. IMHO, the Roon experience can't be beat, but if you aren't interested, Aurelic, DCS and a few others satisfy many. Lumin is known for good hardware, but IME, there app, relying on standard DLNA/UPnP protocols can be a PITA maintaining network connectivity. It's free and works w/any DLNA/UPnp device, as do other apps from Linn and others. Cheers,
Spencer