Sound quality differences between NAS units

[ac16161]

Thanks all for the comments, particularly David's which I think is one of the most thoughtful commentaries on this topic I've ever read.

I did not come at this with the objective of doing an A/B test. I'd been running the Synology for about a year, having previously managed to get Minimserver running on the MyBook with Simon's help. The MyBook got packed away, though I've never been that thrilled by the sound from the Synology. Recently, I decided to update the library copy on the MyBook and happened to be running the MyBook as my server for a few days, and I started to notice I was rather enjoying the system. But then, deciding I didn't really need two NAS units all the time, I shut it down again and reverted to the Synology, and then the difference in SQ jumped out at me. We're not talking an ultra subtle difference, it's obvious. Yet the MyBook is a lower-spec NAS. But then how to explain it? The bits must still be getting to the streamer, and surely the Akurate should be re-clocking in some way. So I do wonder about power-supply noise, and that in turn raises the interesting idea that there may be an interaction element with the local environment, which could explain why the same NAS might sound amazing in another location. I may investigate further, but it sounds like playing about with configuration options with the Synology unit itself is unlikely to be a useful place to start.