Yes, Meraki was purchased by Cisco and its part of its SDN portfolio and is not a core Cisco product. It doesn't even have any of Cisco specific developed protocols that make them unique and has somewhat independent development.
I wouldn't discount on having impact as it contains features that are not typical for the home users. For example, it offers an IPS solution that is running Snort, and dependent on the rules being used, could impact web streaming services. The content filtering isn't likely a problem since those are quick to process and cached to some degree. The AV/Malware scanning options will also significantly impact its performance. If this device is being used in conjunction with a VPN tunnel, the typical AES encryption method used for those transfers could very easily eat up the CPU. A professionally configured unit to myself just means more advanced features could be enabled, thus putting a greater load. You really couldn't tell until you opened up the Meraki Dashboard and reviewed the settings. But if those features are not in use, the sytem should have more than adequate power.
Based on what your comments about the sound though, I would agree with returning the Node2. Jitter issues will manifest themselves in very different ways depending on the device. Some devices will buffer any input to mitigate source jitter issues and others could be significantly affected. PS Audio DSD series has such buffering solutions in their product. They might have called it 'Digital Lens' at some point. Most modern DAC's today do buffer incoming data as they simply anticipate users will potentially see this out of some source devices.
As for why DAC's have few Ethernet connections, its more to do with continual changes in streaming standards than anything else. It means continued support and updates for client devices as new version of DLNA, Airplay, or Roon RAAT may be needed ongoing. Its a hard to quantify cost over the expected life of a component. Remember our audio components due have a longer shelf life than many consumer electronic devices users buy today. With that, many designers feel that an external transport solution might be best for something that will likely change once if not more in the expected service life of the DAC.
I wouldn't discount on having impact as it contains features that are not typical for the home users. For example, it offers an IPS solution that is running Snort, and dependent on the rules being used, could impact web streaming services. The content filtering isn't likely a problem since those are quick to process and cached to some degree. The AV/Malware scanning options will also significantly impact its performance. If this device is being used in conjunction with a VPN tunnel, the typical AES encryption method used for those transfers could very easily eat up the CPU. A professionally configured unit to myself just means more advanced features could be enabled, thus putting a greater load. You really couldn't tell until you opened up the Meraki Dashboard and reviewed the settings. But if those features are not in use, the sytem should have more than adequate power.
Based on what your comments about the sound though, I would agree with returning the Node2. Jitter issues will manifest themselves in very different ways depending on the device. Some devices will buffer any input to mitigate source jitter issues and others could be significantly affected. PS Audio DSD series has such buffering solutions in their product. They might have called it 'Digital Lens' at some point. Most modern DAC's today do buffer incoming data as they simply anticipate users will potentially see this out of some source devices.
As for why DAC's have few Ethernet connections, its more to do with continual changes in streaming standards than anything else. It means continued support and updates for client devices as new version of DLNA, Airplay, or Roon RAAT may be needed ongoing. Its a hard to quantify cost over the expected life of a component. Remember our audio components due have a longer shelf life than many consumer electronic devices users buy today. With that, many designers feel that an external transport solution might be best for something that will likely change once if not more in the expected service life of the DAC.