spend on the streamer or on the DAC ?

Good grief, 5000 dollars spent for a music "server" is getting close to the peak of audiophool stupidity (dudes who are largely clueless about anything related to pc hardware).

A basicc synology NAS+Seagate Ironwolf NAS drive should run you about 300 bucks. It should sit isolated and serve your music beautifully to multiple systems around the house. You gotta know where to spend your cash.

Depending on how golden your ears are, spend your money on a good standalone R2R DAC (Denafrips Venus, terminator, etc). DS DACs in 2020 peak out on diminishing returns at 1k. If you spent more than 1k on DS DAC offerings, it is cash down the drain.

When tech companies see the audiophool, i bet they laugh all the way to Chinatown. I recently saw a review for a audiophool "network switch" priced at 1000+ dollars. This is outrageous. I understand that not everyone may have advanced degrees/work experience/exposure in certain tech areas. But, I sincerely hope that some of you guys do some research and attempt to educate yourselves better

@bhvf
I have 3 systems in my house, main room (music+hometheater hybrid setup), music room (dedicated 2 channel music), bed room (dedicated 2 channel music).

Single Synology DS220j NAS (170 bucks)+ Seagate IronWolf NAS Drive 4TB (100 bucks) serves all music files to all 3 rooms. Also serves all my movie blu ray rips to entertainment room.

Main Room: NAS ---> Yamaha WXC-50 streamer transport ---> Musician Pegasus R2R DAC (1100 bucks)
Music Room: NAS ---> Yamaha WXC-50 streamer transport ---> Denafrips Venus R2R DAC (~3000 bucks USD)
Bedroom: NAS ---> Technics ST-C700D (Networkplayer/streamer+DAC)

- The Yamaha WXC-50 streamer transport is a tiny and EXCELLENT streamer transport with excellent/max features that retails for 350 bucks. It can often be purchased on sale for 200 bucks. For a transport only, diminishing returns max out on the Yamaha. Built in DAC on it is no good. Use it as a TRANSPORT ONLY (intended design).
- Musician Pegasus and Denafrips Venus (with slightly different flavors) are the peak of R2R DACs for 99.99% of golden ear bats out there. Diminishing Returns max out after this. Kiss goodbye to all the MSB and Vermeer snakeoil DACs that cost as much as your car. Had them/Sold them.
- The Technics ST-C700D network player/streamerhas a unusallly good DAC implementation, sounds very much like the R2R Dacs i listed. Hence, It nullified the need for a standalone DAC in my bedroom. I am completely jawdropped by the value offered through the trickledown tech in this unit from their reference gear.