Not a dumb question at all! I like the nas version because it allows me to offload the server side from my primary pc on to a device that’s more likely to be running full time and hopefully have fewer reboots. In my case, my nas is where my music collection is stored and is also hard wired to my network while my pcs are on WiFi, so it eliminates a hop via WiFi in playing the music which speeds up the playback process a bit.
THX
I like Audrivana and like many audiophiles (I identify as people who spend more than the norm in time and money on Music etc) Not necessillary technical people, I count myself among that group. That said Here is a thought for Audrivana., Roon, Minimserver Qnap, Synology. If you want to extend your customer base how about setting your offerings up that are a more simple plug and play option to be able to use. Just look at this thread, I would argue the average audio hobby person does not have the time or attention to go through the myriad of steps, programs, downloads etc to get a clean clear unaltered stream. Maybe Im dumb but I spent two days trying to set up a synology to house my audio files and hoped to load MinimServer 2 to use with my Rossini. It was a nightmare of over simplified incomplete instructions, error messages and research steps to end in frustration and abandonment. No wonder Spotify and apple have the masses, it’s just too painful for many to go down this path sadly. I tried several you tube people with good video attempts only to find many times the software just did not follow the screen steps as shown often?? not sure why. So my comments are kind of a plea to help audio people get the best options in clear laid out instructions by the providers. The forums are a hobby in and of themselves to get help, almost no one has telephone help or Tech debts that take days to respond one point at time. Try doing a set up install one Emil response at time over days… Really not trying to just rant but really seek help. I would love to put my music on a Nas with MinimServer 2 with say Audirvana as a control front . It just should not be this convoluted . Thx for allowing me to vent a bit
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The problem is that UPnP implementation is limited and is complicated and not implemented in a standardized way across all device manufacturers… What you really want is a server like the Taiko Audio Extreme that has Audirvāna Core pre-installed (which I believe they will do this…) outside of this route, the other issue you have is the proprietary nature of the DCS ecosystem implementation of UPnP where they utilize some of the UPnP protocol, and Mosaic…
You are complicating the playback scenario by virtue of UPnP implementation in comparison to a very simple USB protocol transmission scheme.
All too often the expectations of audiophiles that do not understand the technology, leads them down the wrong path, away from the path that led them to invest in system components of impeccable design, that are capable of conveying the superior sound-quality that has been delivered by Audirvāna… The cognitive dissonance in a system design implementation at the level of a DCS Rossini that is compromised by UPnP implementation is confounding to a knowledgeable audiophile like myself… Maybe you have money to burn and the investment in Rossini is inconsequential to you and you do not really appreciate what you have in this system component.
You know if you’re using Audirvana on the Synology you don’t need Minimserver on the Synology too, right?
Audirvana is really pretty simple to set up. Let us know how your system would be set up, whether USB or UPnP, and we can hopefully get you moving along without too much difficulty.
Thanks for your comments. Just to be clear, I am admitting I don’t have the necessary under standing of todays net work systems. I am retired and waited a long time to be able to afford good components so burning money is not in the cards. I was until retirement age a 2 channel guy well versed in what I bought, how to set it up and its capabilities. On the streaming side Im a bit lost frankly. I am trying to find the cleanest sound I can get. Having had a couple of different components in the last 3 years I saw first hand sometimes a vast performance difference . One example was when I purchased a Innuos and plugged it in( it was my first switch of this kind, to my ears it blew Roon away which I had been using for a couple of years. I was close to upgrading my DAC then after the Innuos I did not. So my concern is simple but seems the solutions maybe not. I don’t want to have invested in a component like a Rossini and hook it up in a way that impedes its performance because I set up or use the wrong streaming software etc. So I value your input and am sincerely trying to understand why Roon, Roon with no EQ, Roon with HQ player, Audrivana all seem to present different quality options I am just trying to understand. BTW many dealers in this regard so help is on line mostly. Where I’ve landed to date is that NAS with a good streaming app seems to be a stronger performer?? thx for your comments
The Rossini’s a beautiful piece. Do I assume correctly it has a built-in UPnP streamer?
The reason I ask is that Audirvana acts as what’s called an “ad hoc” UPnP server and control point. That is, it acts as a UPnP server and control point if and when you need UPnP.
If that’s the case, then with Audirvana on the NAS you would have a complete system, no other software required. UPnP needs a server and an endpoint (a/k/a the streamer), and something to control playback, that is, the control point. Between the Rossini (assuming it has a built-in UPnP streamer) and Audirvana, this would give you all those necessary components.
Regarding apps (Audirvana vs. Roon vs. HQPlayer with or without Roon):
I like the sound of both Audirvana and HQPlayer better than Roon in my system. I have a pretty ordinary DAC, and for me Audirvana and HQPlayer provide a signal that is higher quality than my DAC can do on its own. (I don’t want to get into details of my setup at the moment, because you’ve said you’re wanting simplicity, so let’s stay simple.) Whether this would be the case for you with a Rossini, I don’t know - that’s up to your ears. It does seem to me that the expense of Roon, particularly if you’re mostly or almost exclusively playing your own ripped CDs, is probably wasted.
So then between HQPlayer and Audirvana, what would the choice be? While both are high quality, HQPlayer is more expensive than Origin if you’re going to be playing local files. It also involves more tweaking than Audirvana, presenting the user with many more choices to be gone through than Audirvana to get it up and playing. And finally to do its best, it requires a rather stout CPU, which is not what the Synology has. So overall I believe Audirvana Origin would be best for at least what I understand to be your particular use case - Rossini, NAS, play local files rather than streaming services like Qobuz or Tidal, keep things simple.
If I haven’t understood correctly what you’re wanting to do, let me know.
Thank you I appreciate your taking the time and responding in detail. This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. I assume Audrivana studio with the Rossini would not be as optimum as having Audrivana on the Synology. If that’s the case then I would need to get the origin copy and load it on the NAS. I assume Audrivana tech can help me with that. Thanks again, much appreciated
You can use Audirvana (either Studio or Origin) on the Synology to send music to the Rossini (again assuming the Rossini has a built-in UPnP streamer).
Edit: The difference between Studio and Origin is that Studio plays music from streaming services like Qobuz or Tidal, while Origin is for local files.
Your candid response is appreciated… 
The complication is in the UPnP support in which DCS takes a more proprietary interpretation of the protocol and you have Mosaic running interference from what I’ve seen with Vivialdi…
Running Audirvāna on a server that outputs USB is a simpler set-up and maintains the file sample-rate synchronization with the integrated USB receiver controller of the DAC, that is managing the digital-audio signal isochronous transmission and the asynchronous DAC clocking topology, through a buffer and a redundancy check that keeps sample-rate coherent… UPnP does not know what is going on at the DAC, there is no return data supported in the transmission of the data signal… Typically called “Fire and Forget” transmission. So the Rossini DAC is at the mercy of the integrity of the data-rate of the UPnP transmission for proper sample-rate clocking… Yes DCS has impeccable clocking topologies, however it will always be making a best-guess-effort to play the file at its intended sample-rate. This is the minutia that makes a difference in playback character…
This minutia of potentials will impact the integrity of the encoded digital-audio signal and will be perceptible in juxtaposition… This is the case with the Audirvāna audio-engine… The object is to eliminate influencing potentials in the signal pathway, starting from the one’s and zero’s encoded on the storage media that are lifted from that storage media and interpolated into electrical voltages of varying amplitude and duration as a digital-audio code, that is eventually delivered to the computer platform hosting the Audirvāna audio-engine, where subsequently the processed digital-audio code is presented to the output bus of the host computer, through to your DAC… How these signals are handled in the process is the key to why one player sounds differently than another, and why Audirvāna output quality is superior because of the attention to the minutia in the handling of the digital-audio code through the process and the adroitness and acumen of Damien in implementing his design under a premise of ‘no compromise’.
I’ll present a system example here…
MacMini M4 with (at a minimum 16GB… more RAM is better 
) configuration running Audirvana w/ locally attached SSD for library → USB output → DAC
Minimal footprint and can be in very close proximity with very short interconnects where these will reside on the same power/ground/earth circuit.
Use your iPad or other tablet/phone to run Audirvāna Remote or your MBP or iPad remotely accessing the MacMini…
Note: The Synology NAS was never designed to be a high-performance audio component host for a program like Audirvāna…
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Hi @Anthonyd71, some additional food for thought …
I spent a lot (!) of time with Audirvana on Raspi 5—a very similar UX to Audirvana on Synology—and found diagnosing and debugging issues much more challenging that Audirvana on Windows. That’s not a dig on the Linux implementations, simply the challenges of any headless system.
So I fully endorse the “system example” from @Agoldnear: Mac mini or Windows SFF, with local storage for your music library, and physical USB connection to your DAC.
Thanks, I will look into that approach as well
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Yep, you’re the one who has to be happy, so if you can try different solutions and see which one you prefer, great. 
Which Innous box do you have? 
If it supports USB 3.0 connectivity you can take advantage of the USB 3.0 protocol which removes the request signals from the data-lines… Rossini supports USB 2.0… using a iFi-Audio iPurifier 3 will facilitate the transition from USB 3.0 input to USB 2.0 output to the DAC.
EDIT: If you have an Innous server, what do you believe Audirvāna brings to the table for you versus the Innous OS? There is something to be said about vertical integration. I believe you have your answer, unless you wish to modulate all PCM files to DSD or apply DSP speaker/room management via plug-ins.
At this point it seems you are asking something that only DCS will provide the best insight to…
May want to hold off on Macs with M3/M4 until they release a patch for this: Apple chips can be hacked to leak secrets from Gmail, iCloud, and more - Ars Technica . If you already have a Mini with M2, don’t use Safari. If you have one with M1, you’re OK.
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Okay… these sorts of vulnerabilities of Apple M series silicon require very specific circumstances for this scenario which are not commonplace… Apple does not comment on their security strategy and implementation specifically, so we will not really know when or if these vulnerabilities have been addressed in software and the risk to the common user…
There is always media hyperbole, surrounding these things and the same author is again bringing attention to this publication, as in previous articles of similar ‘excitability’ a couple of years ago.
macOS 15.3 was released four days ago… Apple is always vigilant about security vulnerabilities and System related updates… I suspect you have an agenda that compels you to feed the fear, or you have not done your homework on this… macOS 15.4 is in progress…
I know you are very Mac-biased and everything else is the devil in your opinion.
But… conspiracy theories… really? You know this is just about hifi right? Hidden agenda’s? Come on… Please try to keep at least one foot in reality please.
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The vulnerabilities are not related to Audirvāna playback… This is why I question the motivation for the posting of this ‘concern’ 
When using Audirvāna for the first time, you’re taken to a web page to sign in; then once again if you decide to purchase. Also, if you’re trying out Audirvāna with two OSs, as the questioner may do, you sign in when switching between the two. So yes, the situation outlined in the article may come up.
However, the article does note people have been informed privately that a patch will be provided shortly, and Apple is usually quite good about this sort of thing, so I don’t think there will be long to wait.
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Also BTW, there was a similar type of vulnerability in 14000-series Intel chips, so if you have one of those you’ll want to be sure you’ve updated to the latest BIOS, which resolves the issue without affecting performance terribly much.
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