I have an SMS-200 that I use as an endpoint. I don’t notice an SQ difference between that and an RPi, but my audio memory (like most people except professionals) is short. Never attached it to the ethernet port on the core machine. It seems like what would be more effective is some sort of USB cleaner upper.
I’ve made this argument, vociferously, in another post about mRendu. To see an answer by the designer of mRendu go here -