In the AudioQuest room, I was treated to a course on the Powers of Network Attached Storage. It wasn’t really a course and it wasn’t really called that, but it could have been. AudioQuest’s Steve Silberman is convincing. And I am now convinced that, when the time comes for me to dive into computer audio and other digital waters, I’ll seriously consider a NAS for my needs.

While Silberman has found success with several different NAS devices, on display in the AQ room was Synology’s powerful DS712+, which Silberman says is highly reliable, has a very friendly user interface, and never compromises the performance of his system.

The system on hand was made of a MacBook playing standard iTunes and sitting on AQ’s stinky but effective QFeet isolation devices; a supercute, supercool AudioQuest DragonFly (see Art Dudley’s review in our October issue); Vandersteen’s similarly cute Treo loudspeakers; and, of course, AudioQuest cables throughout. NAD’s M51 Direct Digital DAC and partnering M50 Digital Music Player were also on hand.

Now, this was a cool system. I noted good imaging, fine bass impact, and an entertaining overall sound.

For more on Network Attached Storage, visit AudioStream.