Synology DS916+ Four-Bay Consumer NAS Review
Final Thoughts
For those of you that are on the edge of wanting to upgrade your NAS to something more powerful or with more storage capacity, the DS916+ could very well be the ticket you have been waiting for. The build quality of this unit is solid and while apart from its internal skeleton that is metal, this unit is mostly a hard plastic. This allows for fewer rattles in operation, and while this does not matter to most for some, it can influence their buying decision. Synology has deployed this unit with two cooling fans, and from experience, I can say they are quite silent; all I hear from this unit sitting next to me is the hum of hard drives spinning.
On the performance side of things, the DS916+ carried average performance through single client testing with RAID 0 peaking at 107 MB/s in 2x Playback and RAID 5 touching 94 MB/s. RAID 10, on the other hand, did quite well topping 110 MB/s. Switching to sequential, I was able to get 117 MB/s read out of this unit in RAID 5 while RAID 0 produced 112 MB/s.
Workloads produced some of the highest performance I have seen come out of a NAS appliance. With RAID 0 topping 7000 IOPS in several cases and Workstation coming in just over 3000 IOPS. RAID 5 showed more of the same with Database, File Server, and Web Server reaching over 1200 IOPS with Workstation not far behind at 1000 IOPS. RAID 10 showed more of the performance I found in RAID 0 with Database going well over 8000 IOPS and Email Server a shade over 4000 IOPs.
With this being my second hands-on experience with DSM 6, I can say even in the short couple of months between the DS716 and DS916+, I have noticed it feels much quicker. Synology updates their appliances quite often and while this can get annoying updating every time you enter DSM, I would much rather an updated appliance than one leaving security holes open.
Adding to the DS916+ is expandable functionality; it is the first four-bay from Synology that I know of supporting the DX513. The DX513, while seemingly a simple eSATA expansion enclosure, does offer tool-less installation with a matching aesthetic. Is it worth the $459.99 MSRP? Probably not, but for those already in the Synology ecosystem wanting to push more capacity, the DX513 is definitely the way to go if you don't have the funds to upgrade the entire appliance.
Product Summary Breakdown
| Performance | 89% |
| Quality including Design and Build | 90% |
| General Features | 95% |
| Bundle and Packaging | 87% |
| Value for Money | 89% |
| Overall TweakTown Rating | 90% |
The Bottom Line: Whether you are in the market for an upgrade or your first appliance, the Synology DS916+ is a solid place to start with its powerful quad-core SoC and expandable functionality.
PRICING: You can find the Synology DS916+ Four-Bay Consumer NAS for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link below to see real-time pricing for the best deal:
United States: The Synology DS916+ Four-Bay Consumer NAS retails for $650 at Amazon.
United Kingdom: The Synology DS916+ Four-Bay Consumer NAS retails for £499 at Amazon UK.
Canada: The Synology DS916+ Four-Bay Consumer NAS retails for $1127 CAD at Amazon Canada.
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