What makes One Music Server Sound Better than Another?

@tonywinga 

Thx, I totally get your point.  Here’s mine:

Avg DAC + Avg. Server = Average Sound

Good DAC + Avg. Server = Good Sound 

Great DAC + Avg. Server = Great Sound.

The main difference is I can explain why, and I saved alot of $ on a server.  Having said that, I still love your system - if I had to do solid state, I’d be tempted by Pass Labs - and I’m quite sure your system sounds great.

I had the good server and got a great DAC.  Tried the great server with the 30 day trial safety net.  Great server is not going back.  

Previous server was a NUC based RS9 (an improved version of the Nucleus+) with a Keces P8 LPS.  I thought it sounded great.  Refer to the first rule of audio.

As with any expensive purchase I had to make the decision what am I willing to give up?  Audio came first but I had to agree to new floors for my wife.  So even more so what am I willing to give up...

I plan to write a review of my new music server after I've had it a month or so.  But I will list a few things that persuaded me to keep it.

1)  The music sounds better.  All digital grain, glare- that cringing that happens with peaks in the music is gone.  The thing that I have noticed is that with my new DAC, I could play the music louder.  Now with this new music server I can play the music even more louder.  I'm not talking about run everyone out of the room loud.  I mean just good levels for jamming to the music without cringing now and then.

2)  Rhythm and Pace are excellent now and as good as my vinyl.  If I played records for a while and then switched to digital, that's when I could really tell the difference.  The new DAC was a great improvement when playing CDs with my transport but not so with my old server.  That's one of the things that prompted me to try a better music server.  The new server delivers on rhythm and Pace.

3)  Noise.  No noise.  The background is black like I have not experienced before.  When I hit play the music explodes out of nothing.  I jumped every time I hit play for the first few days.  With my old server I could hear the noise floor raise up when I hit play.  Not a lot but audible like a prelude to the music.

4)  More detail and resolution.  This is not necessarily always a good thing but it is addictive to the point that I find it hard to give up once I have it.  The added detail can be distracting and take away from the music at first.  It takes some getting used to.  While it brings out more of the "being there" it also reveals flaws and errors in recordings.  

 take your server/player to somewhere where their is a high-end "audiophile" server/player, setup with appropriate highly revealing other components and cables and compare.

I believe I've already done this without having to take it anywhere.  I've built all level of servers, from the AudiophileStyle's totally quiet fanless model with no moving parts and using the various OS tweaks that are/were supposed to bring OS operations to the quietest levels possible, to powerful beasts that may clearly have noisy electro-stuff.  I mean, I have probably built 15 Roon servers.  All flavors. The transmitter in a network configuration just cannot generate a different sound.

I've been designing and building media computers for over 30 years - I'm not just guessing here.  What I don't have are the fancy milled aluminum parts to make those beautiful chassis.  Please, don't tell me the chassis affects SQ!

In terms of resolving gear, I have Magnepan, PSB, KEF, Monitor Audio, B&W, Krell, Balanced Audio, Focal, Levinson, Classe, Bryston, Parasound, Wyred4Sound, Auralic, Schiit, and Mytek.  I'm good on resolving.  

You can talk about how best to catch a chicken but until you have experience catching chickens, what you have to say is mostly meaningless.  

See above.  By your analogy, I have caught a lot of chickens. I have been obtaining, churning, buying, listening, tweaking, all manner of resolving enough gear for a long, long time. 

 Music, like all art is personal.

Music is personal, for sure. What isn't personal is how IP networks function.  What isn't music is what goes from the server to the streamer. It's packets of IP data, the same regardless of the sender.  

This "my system is bigger than yours" method of winning arguments, well, just try to read it objectively. 

Well jji666, you have a contra point to every point.  That is called being pedantic.  

I wish you happiness enjoying this hobby in your own way.