That would depend upon the quality of the music server in question, how much like a typical unshielded/unoptimized computer inside it was built like, the quality of the DAC the laptop is plugged in to, what O/S is on each, speed of drives (HDD versus SSD, etc...), memory type and speed, how they are optimized, etc....
Blanket statements regarding expensive music servers are always better than laptops don't hold up simply on face value. There are alot more variables in the equation.
Blanket statements regarding expensive music servers are always better than laptops don't hold up simply on face value. There are alot more variables in the equation.