April 2026

Streaming Versus Local: When A Music Server Still Wins
How high-end servers improve streamed and local playback for superior sound.
Editorial By Alan Sircom

  On the face of it, the continued rise of streamed music and the general shift away from physical or locally-stored music would tend to suggest there's no need for a music server anymore. With two new server products in this month's line-up, I'd argue that reports of the server's demise are greatly exaggerated.

Until recently, almost every self-respecting enthusiast with a networked audio system used a server no matter what. This started because local NAS boxes (network-attached storage) were used to hold your collection of ripped CD files and downloaded high-resolution tracks. A server was needed to coordinate all this, and at a time when storage was cheap and bandwidth was still relatively narrow, this was a great idea.

Now, however, broadband is rarely the bottleneck it once was. You can effortlessly stream even the largest file from a service provider, the likes of Qobuz, Spotify, and Tidal have 'Connect' software that lets your streamer bypass the server, and that drive full of CD rips is now full of the tracks you loved to play a decade ago. We've moved on.

Or have we?

At the ultra-high-end, CD and SACD remain dominant, but those who are exploring high-performance downloaded and streamed audio almost always end up with a high-quality server in the system. This is not simply bragging rights; with very high levels of system performance, it matters.

I often prefer the sound of a well-ripped, locally-stored CD to a streamed high-resolution version of the same, but usually this only occurs when there's a good server in the signal path. In addition, I usually prefer the sound of streamed music fed through my Innuos server than fed directly to a streamer. It's like the streamer takes on some of the heavy lifting of file management, and leaves the audio system to concentrate on reproducing music. The better 'sorted' the server, the more enjoyment you get out of the music you listen to.

The choice of server is important, too. Yes, the server is a dedicated computer, and it doesn't need to be a particularly powerful one at that. But it needs to be looked at as a potential source of noise and interference that sits perilously close to the main system. When handled well, it transforms the way you listen to music. It does the same when handled badly, but not in the way you would want it to!

Congratulations to the three lucky winners of our AIM Competition, who each win a AIM NAX Ethernet cable, worth over £3,000!

The winners are Fredric Laporte from Montreal, Canada, Timothy Ng from Singapore, and Philip Young from Brighton, England. Well done and enjoy the improvement the cable brings!

Alan Sircom, Editor hi-fi+

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