AndrewT

Agreed. I find it hard to believe NAS are still being recommended for audio: they just never work as well as having storage on-board, providing the hardware makes proper allowance for the noise they generate (which the Aurenders and Melcos do). Still also amazed by how many servers are so badly designed in this regard - if all manufacturers were forced to use transparent cases, it would sort the men from the boys pretty sharpish!

For me, the Aurender stands out. Like Bryan above, I've tried and built many servers, but the Aurender has a natural, genuinely transparent quality that is the hallmark of the best. The Melco has it, too - Melco make great servers! To be fair, the S10 (which I used to own) is unfairly treated by a review that assesses its USB output. It was never designed as a USB source: early versions of its firmware didn't even permit USB to be output. The S10 is an SPDIF (AES/EBU) animal, and as such very nearly as good as the N10. The N10 kind of combines the best of the X100 with the S10 and adds some special sauce. It's certainly possible to DIY a computer to give Aurender-level performance, but as the original poster notes - it's easy to hit designed-in roadblocks that prevent further progress.