Hi,
Yes it does (sorry @PAR) … the USB (host) input is handled by the S800 board that also handles the UPnP and USB (slave) inputs and as such does “pass through” the streamer.
Not sure what you mean here exactly - you can access any track you want and skip within that track. You don’t have to play all the tracks on the stick in sequence so there is “random access”.
There isn’t any browsing by metadata though if that’s what you were meaning - only by folders and files…
Basically the OP’s original question really requires clarification (as has been said elsewhere in this discussion) … a DAC in itself will not benefit from a Music Server as a DAC and a Music Server require things between them for them to be connected together and also we need to know a bit more about “benefit” too … adding a Music Server (a SERVER being something that hosts a UPnP server such as Asset UPnP or MinimServer) to a setup where there is a dCS streaming device such as a Network Bridge / Bartok / Lina DAC / Rossini / Vivaldi Upsampler or Varese Core will allow the users music collection to be indexed and sorted by the UPnP Server and made available for the UPnP Client (the dCS Streamer) to browse by the metadata that is stored in those tracks - so by Artist, by Album Name, by release date, by Genre, by Performer, by Composer etc. (as long as that metadata is present).
Certainly accessing music via a UPnP Server brings a functionality benefit when used with a dCS Streamer - otherwise music that is on a USB Stick plugged into the USB host port on a dCS Streamer can only be browsed by folders and filenames - and the USB Host connection is only intended for use with small collections of music.
Just as a note - we do state in the manuals that we recommend only USB pendrives and thumbdrives of up to 32GB capacity and that use with HDDs or SSDs, although it may work, is not supported - this is becoming increasingly relevant now that drives of over 2TB are readily available as 2TB is the largest capacity supported by FAT32. (32GB being the largest supported formatting size for a FAT32 drive under Windows own formatting tool although third party tools will format drives using FAT32 up to 2TB.)
Phil