NAS Storage and Streaming for Hi Def audio, What NAS Hard drive system best for Mac..


I've been researching on creating a NAS / Streaming system now that I've settled on the L.K.S. Audio DA004 DAC.
I've hit a wall in regards to which would be the  best  NAS Hard dive system to start with, and with hopes that the NAS storage and streaming system I will be able to build from will last for years. I know with the ever changing Audio world, nothing seems to permanent, but need a good a place to start and go from there.  I've narrowed it  down to 3-4 system', But I am open to any suggestions from the group that could work best with my Mac products. I'm looking for a 4-5 Bay system that I'll be able to build from to increase storage as my library grows. My thoughts are to start off from 8-12 TB. I do have a music library that I  use with  itunes, Tidal, Pandora, etc. But I would like to build a library of as high of HI Def files as possible, so I probably will start from stratch and bring over what ever works. I don't have a dedicated music network Device. I bought a Cambridge 851n, But returned it because I did not like it upsampling all music and not being able to turn it off/on.  I would like to run the system by iPad either fixed in the wall, or iphone and with the main iMac computer in another other room using eithernet Cat5- 6, or higher if needed. I'm Down to :  QNAP TS-451  , Drobo 5n2, Synology DS 418 . WD MY Cloud EX NAS. Each have a lot to offer, and the more research I do , the more I confused I get. I'm at a point where my research on the internet isn't revealing anything new or more to add for Audio, So I'm reaching out to the group for some help at this point. 
Thanks again for your help.
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Showing 3 responses by dgarretson

The advantage of QNAP lies in the higher-level models with i5 and i7 processors.  With those you can run everything on the NAS with no need for an external PC or Mac.  I'm running Roon core and Roon DSP engine on an i5 TVS-882 with six disk bays and two SSD bays to host Roon and cache the disk drives.
IME the best approach is computer-grade i5 or i7 NAS in conjunction with high-performance Ethernet-to-USB renderers like Micro- or UltraRendu or SOtM.  Separate the EN-to-USB conversion with audiophile pieces from the computer and storage.  It's scalable and relatively cheap.