IMHO the most likely explanation for any difference between different server installations would be if some configuration difference had accidentally crept in while installing - perhaps different volume or preamp settings, or file format transcodiing options.
If all of those variables have indeed been eliminated, then I think you've just done an excellent demonstration of the power of the placebo effect..... On the other hand, if you do want to go looking for differences, you will first need to be clear about whether you are streaming the WAV files directly to the SB, or whether (the default) they are being transcoded to FLAC before being sent. If the former, then you are going to have to think very hard about what mechanism might be in play to allow the OS that is sending the WAV files down a heavily buffered IP network to affect the way that the SB is delivering the bits to a DAC. If the latter, then we are back in the "FLAC sounds different to WAV" discussion, which I'd rather stay out of, though I do note that proponents of this argument usually offer an explanation along the lines that there is some odd effect of the FLAC-WAV decoding in the SB which is causing an audible outcome... how that would work when the DAC is external to the SB I really can't imagine. Unless of course the servers are generating airborne or mains-borne interference with the DAC, in which case the SB is irrelevant anyway... IMHO. Ceejay -- ceejay ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ceejay's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=148 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=35382 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
