A Music Server is a device or software designed to store, organize, and stream high-quality digital music. It acts as a central hub for managing audio files and streaming services, delivering superior sound quality and seamless playback for audiophiles and music enthusiasts. Here is a list of the best Music Servers that cost more than $10,000.

1. Aurender N20 - $12.000 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Aurender N20 slots in one position lower than its $22,500, state-of-the-art W20SE. Beautifully built and finished, the N20 sports outstanding transparency, resolution, and three-dimensionality. If you want a beautifully made audio streamer that supports on-board file storage, seamless integration with streaming services or a NAS, and is a veritable snap to set-up, the N20 bears serious consideration. With well-mastered recordings, it consistently delivered some of the best-sounding digital music for any attributes one would care to discuss. SSc, 326

Read the full review: Aurender N20 Music Server

2. Baetis Audio Reference 3 - $13,000⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In their computer-based music servers, Baetis vociferously rejects the standard deployment of the universal serial bus (USB) as the default digital interface between a music computer’s motherboard and a DAC, maintaining that transporting audio data within a USB signal generates deleterious digital noise. Earlier Baetis designs achieved notable sonic results with a coaxial SPDIF output terminated with a BNC connector; now the company has determined that a higher-voltage SPDIF takes the playback of high-resolution stereo audiophiles to an even higher level of fidelity. To AQ, the Baetis Reference 3 achieves the closest approach yet to musical realism in digital’s long-frustrating history. 

3. Innuos Statement ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$13,750 - 1TB | $14,400 - 2TB | $15,150 - 4TB 

This meticulously crafted two-unit server with an external linear power supply offers the opportunity to run Roon, Roon utilizing Squeezebox (a tad glitchy but worth the glitches), or Squeezebox with your favorite UPnP software. From a sonic perspective it checks every audiophile box. Layering and dynamics are unrestricted no matter the musical genre, and vocals are velvety and luxurious, but never high viscosity. Rock is reproduced with the snap, punch, rhythm, and texture befitting The Beatles, Van Morrison, and Hendrix in their finest live recordings. Piano’s difficult tonal complexities, often challenging for the best music servers, are just another day at the concert hall for the Innuos. If you’re in the market for a product of this type, you would be doing yourself a serious disservice by not placing the Statement on your final list to consider. 

4. Lumin X1 - $13,990 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The X1 is Lumin’s fully featured flagship. It serves as a streamer, DAC, and digital preamplifier, has its own dedicated smartphone app, and is Roon compatible. Unlike some streaming devices, the Lumin X1 does not have any internal hard drives, which ensures that the X1 will never need to be opened to have a drive replaced. The X1 does everything you would expect from a premium audiophile product—it looks cool, operates flawlessly, accepts firmware updates, and has its own app. It also performs as well sonically as any streamer/DAC/preamplifier SS has ever had in his clutches. Low-level detail through the Lumin X1 is exemplary, as is customer service from Source Systems, Lumin’s U.S. distributor. Recently updated with Leedh digital signal processing. 

Read the full review: Lumin X1 Streamer/DAC/Preamp 

5. Ideon Audio Absolute Stream - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$20,000

The designers at Greece’s Ideon Audio have imbued their top-of-the-line Absolute Epsilon DAC with a host of proprietary technologies. Rather than use off-the-shelf parts, Ideon has created its own circuits or modified standard parts. Couple this with an elaborate power supply and superb build-quality, and you have a top-shelf DAC. When auditioned with Ideon’s Absolute Stream music server ($19,900) and the Absolute Time master clock ($9600), the system had stunningly lifelike reproduction of music’s dynamics. The sense of immediacy and presence—the impression of nothing between you and the music—was equally impressive. 

6. Aurender W20SE  - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$22,000

The “SE” model that replaces the W20 adds a host of functional and performance upgrades that promises to maintain this music server’s status as a reference product. The spinning hard drives have been replaced by 4TB of solid-state memory, and the internal cache memory has been expanded to 1TB (from 240GB). The switching power supply has been replaced with a linear supply; the clock has been upgraded; the unit now supports up to DSD512; it offers improved filtering and isolation of the LAN port; and the user can engage integral PCM upsampling to 384kHz. MQA “Core” decoding is now standard (Core decoding “unfolds” the MQA signal to 88.2 or 96k sample rate). On top of these improvements, the W20 still offers the best user interface and music-management software of any server. 

7. Metronome DSC  - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$31,000

Occasionally, a product comes along that is a true game changer. In the category of streamers, DACs, and digital linestages, the Metronome DSC is such a one. Its secret weapon is banishment of digital noise to a heretofore unheard-of extent. Of course, there’s a thick aluminum chassis to reduce RF interference. But the DSC goes a lot further, with an oversized power supply to eliminate any strain in that department, as well as a top-of-the-line ESS DAC chip that incorporates sophisticated jitter reduction. But the DSC’s real advancement is the incorporation of a digital volume control technology called Leedh, which eliminates the noise we’ve come to take for granted in even the best digital linestages/DACs. Furthermore, the DAC and Roon-ready streaming modules are fully up to the quality of the linestage. The result is an incredibly engaging and gratifying listening experience. 

8. Linn Klimax DSM  - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$42,500

Linn’s Klimax DSM/3 sets a new standard for flexibility, functionality, and audio quality for music servers and streaming DACs. Using the Linn app or Roon, the Klimax DSM/3 can stream files from a music server and a class-leading range of streaming services. Linn’s proprietary Space Optimisation software is a breakthrough innovation that removes in-room interactions to provide flexibility in speaker placement, while also maximizing the accuracy of the recording’s true soundstage. Linn’s Organik D/A conversion engine delivers an exceptionally lifelike and organic quality. The overall tonal palette is neutral with weight, heft, and body to the presentation, and beauty in the rendering and layering of fine inner detail, timbre, and texture. Owners of older DSM units can upgrade to the Organik DAC for $7020. 

9. Ideon Absolute System  - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$47,000 Epsilon DAC  |   $19,900 Streamer  |   Master clock $9600

The designers at Greece’s Ideon Audio have imbued their top-of-the-line Absolute Epsilon DAC with a host of proprietary technologies. Rather than use off-the-shelf parts, Ideon has created its own circuits or modified standard parts. Couple this with an elaborate power supply and superb build-quality, and you have a top-shelf DAC. When auditioned with Ideon’s Absolute Stream music server ($19,900) and the Absolute Time master clock ($9600), the system had stunningly lifelike reproduction of music’s dynamics. The sense of immediacy and presence—the impression of nothing between you and the music—was equally impressive. 

10. Wadax Reference Server  - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

$64,900 (optical interface option, $19,240) 

At $84,140 with the Akasa optical interface module, the Wadax Reference Server is priced unlike other music servers. But it also sounds unlike other servers. When connected to the Wadax Reference DAC through the proprietary Akasa optical interface, the combination takes digital playback into uncharted territory. As spectacular as the Reference DAC is, the Server may be the more revolutionary product. It makes garden-variety digital files sound like hi-res remasterings, with tremendous bass clarity, dynamics, articulation, and rhythmic drive. The Reference Server also reveals space, depth, and dimensionality, even on recordings that sound flat and two-dimensional through other sources. A breakthrough in digital replay, and RH’s reference.