SQ difference - Raspberry Pi vs x86_64?

[hkphantomgtr]

@hkphantomgtr agree the Pi5 is better than the Pi4.  And the gap between the NUC and Pi5 is about the same. My Pi5 is still using microSD and not likely to add a NVME/SSD

Have not played with clocks for the NUC.  However, am using a Innuos Phoenix USB reclocker as well as a Renolabs Ethernet switch with OCXO clock.  While those improvements are good, they cannot match what SO can deliver...

I'm using microSD for OS, and NVMe for storage only.  Clock for NUC..... I didn't hear about such service yet, though I'm sure that will be a great improvement.

The OCXO clock for Pi5 replaced 3 clocks on the Pi5, viz 1 for CPU, 1 for LAN, and 1 for USB.  That really matters.   

And similarly to your case, my NUC or Pi5 USB output to a reclocker (Denafrips GAIA), too.  And it will output i2s to my DAC.  One of the reason I chose that re-clocker is, there are 2 OCXO clocks inside, 1 is for 44.1kHz and its multiples, the other 1 is for 48kHz and its multiples.