With same track from ripped CD streaming from my smart phone VS original CD in Esoteric K1 Grandioso, my close friend who is Esoteric distributor said in room with most revealing system he setup that this server sounds very close and probably hard to tell apart in normal systems.
Anyone can claim about server sounding better than highend CD transport but getting approval from highend CD transport distributor themselves is another story. It took me over 10 years to realize this dream. I still can't beat the best CD/SACD transport yet but the gap is close to being on par now.