Music Server Advice

I’m an Esoteric fan. I have an N05 Network player with a Qnap NAS. I use this thru my home Ethernet network with fiber connection before the N05. The NAS was easy to set up so if you can do that sort of thing I would recommend it over the “all in one” proprietary solutions out there. I’m not saying anything against them, but my set up gives me more flexibility and upgrade ability. The Esoteric has super capacitors among other noise deterring features. That along with the fiber tx and rx in my Ethernet line, I’m extremely satisfied!

Check out SmallGreenComputer.com.  I have been using their products, and the Sonore products they sell for years.  Very reliable, easy to use, and fantastic support from Andrew.  IMHO, they offer great value by keeping their casework simple and eschewing expensive marketing.  The sound is wonderful, and I am using mostly their entry level kit.  I would imagine their better offerings would be competitive with many more expensive options.  They have a 30 day return option, too.

lalitk

If you don’t wanna give up on ROON then consider the alternative from CAD’s CAT, Grimm Audio - MU1 and one of many Wolf Audio offerings. I was at AXPONA recently and I got to hear all the server/streamers from the top names, including EVO432, Auralic (full stack with clock) Innuos Statement and Aurender N30SA.

I am also a lifetime ROON subscriber but stream through Aurender 99.9% of the time. Once you done messing around with ROON, consider a Aurender N200 or N20 and call it a day :-) 

I am also interested in the Grimm Audio - MU1,  Aurender N200, or N20. 

I have never been able to audition these fine pieces of equipment and would be very interested if you could give us a detailed explanation of your observations with your experienced ears on what you heard at AXPONA.  I have the equipment that could easily benefit from their abilities.  Thank you. 

I casually mentioned Computer Audio Design’s CAT in my last post. This is a relatively new product that doesn’t get lot of press here. If you mind extra boxes and added cost, CAT server is worth check out with an external power supply and one of the CAD grounding module. 
https://www.computeraudiodesign.com/cad-cat/

dinov, I choose the D-05x over, at the time, N-05 because of the higher DSD rate and other improvements. I also use fiber opt tx/rx ethernet connection.