My NAS has two Ethernet ports, is it possible to connect directly to the bridge? Wondering if this might improve sound quality by bypassing the router. When I compare the bridge with the PWT, the PWT wins for sound quality. Could also be that the PWT has the edge because it is connected to the DS with I2s cable
The idea of the NAS is to have it shareable amongst all network clients. If you connect it directly to the Bridge then you’re isolating it from everything else. But, I guess you knew that already. Or is your question, connect a LAN port of the NAS to the Bridge, and the other port to the router?
I had this idea when I saw the NAS had two ethernet ports. And so I tried it. Sadly, it doesn’t work because the DAC has no way to communicate to the router. But Synology should be encouraged to come up with a way to make it work. Surely eliminating the router would help SQ.
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It’s a network attached storage device, so just connect it to the network. I wouldn’t get so wound-up about connecting it to the DAC directly. And I doubt there is any incentive for Synology to make it work this way. I assume you tried putting them both on static IP and that didn’t work.
Yes, you can enable the DHCP Server inside the Synology NAS. Then your Bridge will get an IP from the second port.
But I dont think it will improve the SQ. 
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Thanks Coltma, will test this out. Is a crossover ethernet cable necessary for this to work? You are probably right about SQ. Would love the bridge SQ to match the PWT, but I think it is likely a result of the PWT using the superior I2S.
I’m using the Melco N1ZS10 as a DHCP server delivering IP to Bridge II. Ripped my cd’s with the Melco (uncompressed Flac). Using minimserver on the Melco to transcode Flac to WAV on the fly and Audioquest Diamond RJ/E sending it to Bridge II (or Audioquest Diamond USB for direct delivery to the DS) easily matches -even outperforms 
- the SQ of my PWT…
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