I switched from a Synology server when something happened to it a Melco N100. The Melco is also a player. I had been running the Synology with a Bryston player, and the Melco sounds very different than the Synology/Bryston combination. I have two other mid fi , HT systems in the home. Using the Melco as a NAS only, and playing the files through an Oppo 203 and a Bluesound Node2, I can’t detect much of a difference from the Synology server. Not a perfect experiment, but I would have to conclude that the player makes the bigger difference sonically than the server
Sonic differences between servers
Looking to replace my Roon Nucleus. Have read many of posts regarding the various options; Innuos, Antipodes, SGC, and Salk. Definitely quite a wide price range for these different units. If the job of the server is to send the digital signal to the DAC; does the server really influence the sound?