What makes One Music Server Sound Better than Another?

@mitch2 the two streamers you’re comparing are approximately on the same level. That is definitely one of the driving factors in the differences you’re hearing. There may be a difference between how one stream renders tone and presentation vs the other. It’s a matter of preference. If you want to experience difference in streamers, order a WiiM Pro, a highly hyped up streamer with built in dac. Use its digital out and compare to antipodes or mojo. You can return it if you don’t like it.
Forget the psychological aspect of it. One listen is all it will take.

As to why the streamers sound different, I listed few reasons above. 

I will say that if one attempts to account for how modern digital audio technology performs using the same approach and factors as in teh past with older analog only technologies, they are likely missing the boat to a great extent. Pretty much anything is possible with digital (DSP) and the devil is in the details case by case, which alone accounts for why different products sound different, either by design or otherwise. Robust analysis using measurements is the key to understanding each case properly.  Anything is possible regardless of price tag. Otherwise, yes its pretty much a crap shoot.

yes servers have different sound quality

in our case we mport the 432evo servers and the difference in sound quality between models is very evident.

In the case of our highend model vs our Aeon model the parts are identical with

The one big change is how the clock board is powered,.,just isolating the clock board enables theserver to produce a larger soundstage,greater clarity, and a more analog like presentation..

So in server design, even tismall  differences in data isolation, yields noticicible audibile changes.

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect NJ

us importers 432evo music servers

I will try to weigh in with my 2 cents worth on this subject, FWIW.  I owned what I considered a very good streamer with a suggested list price of around 6000.00, the only problem was the fact that I hated the app used to control it.  I finally got to the point where I just couldn’t deal with the app any longer, so I emailed Joel at Upscale Audio to get his opinion on the difference in my server vs the Aurender N20, especially since it gets a lot of praise on this forum.  He unequivocally told me the N20 was in a different league altogether.  I really didn’t want to spend the money at the time for the upgrade but decided to go for it anyway.  What the heck, it’s only money right?

When I got the N20 installed in my system I did a direct comparison between my original server vs the N20 by playing the same music and switching between the 2 inputs on my DAC.  I have them both hooked up with Audioquest Carbon AES/EBU XLR cables to my PS Audio MK2 DAC.  I was disappointed on my first listen because I didn’t really hear a big enough difference to have spent that much money on the upgrade.  At that point I just turned everything off and thought now what, do I send the N20 back and just keep what I had or what.  I decided to listen to the Aurender for a couple of weeks just to see how it played out, and to also play with their app to find out how easy it worked, what a difference an app makes as far as an interface goes, even though it isn’t perfect, it is still a far better experience than what I was used to.

After a couple weeks of listening to the N20 I decided to compare it to my original server again.  This time I was totally blown away by the difference in the sound, every time I listened to the original server it sounded like I put up a screen or something between me and the music, the soundstage seemed to collapse, and the music lost a lot of what I would describe as musicality.  I think I made the right decision by keeping the N20.  I know there are probably better servers out there, but I can’t imagine getting better sound from my system than the N20 gives me without spending a lot more money, I also understand now why the N20 garners a lot of praise from the folks that own one.  I should also add that their tech support is first class, with a response time that is very impressive.

@vandy357 that’s about how long the Aurender needs to break in. My N200 settled after couple of weeks.