Sound quality differences between NAS units

[simoncn]

(20-08-2016 00:16)winxi Wrote:  The argumentation that analogue noise from the NAS or other components makes it over the digital transmission channel into the renderer and in further consequence to the speakers and the ear seems not very convincing to me. It is even less convincing when it comes from an official of a company which wants to sell its products to an audiophile clientele along with a quite basic and abstract explanation about how the digital transmission works. If this argumentation was correct,
1) I'd consider this rather to be a problem of the renderer than of other components like the NAS or the used HDD
2) the problem would be solved by a single audiophile highend switch just in front of the renderer.

I have tried many renderers and I have heard a sonic difference from the Melco with all the renderers I have tried. One of the points that DanielE made was that when noise is introduced into the transmission chain, it cannot just be removed but has to go somewhere. This suggests that all renderers are likely to be affected to some extent, although some might be affected more than others.

The Melco N1 can be used as an audiophile high-end switch just in front of the renderer. I have tried doing this with the audio streamed by another server such as a QNAP NAS and I have noticed a sonic improvement when the Melco is in the chain. This seems to provide some scientific/experimental support for DanielE's explanation.

Perhaps one day someone will design a renderer than can fiilter out electrical noise from the server with no audible impact. I wonder how much such a renderer would cost. It might be more cost-effective to use a server that doesn't introduce the noise in the first place.

Quote:I do not doubt that some people may perceive a difference in sound quality when using a different NAS. But how can you be sure that this difference is not caused by the human brain and in particular by the expectation that more expensive and higher quality equipment must sound better? How can you be sure that this is not a variant of the placebo effect?

Before I tried the Melco, my opinion was the same as yours. I borrowed a unit not expecting to hear any difference as I had never heard any difference between any other server hardware. The sonic difference was a complete surprise and has caused me to change my opinion. This is a scientific approach, where theories are developed and revised in the light of real-world observations.

Quote:I think the reason is that renderers typically have a DAC which undoubted affects the quality of sound.

The DAC is converting one electrical signal into another. If something else upstream makes a difference to the input electrical signal, it is surely at least possible that the output electrical signal could be affected.