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Synology’s “Plus” series has long been the go-to NAS line for small businesses, home offices, and power users. Models like the DS920+ and DS923+ struck a near-perfect balance of performance, flexibility, and ease of use. If you’re in the game of enhancing your home setup and moving a bit into the small office and team space, Synology’s stuff has been tried, tested, and trusted.
That legacy continues, though not without some caveats, with the new DiskStation DS925+. It’s faster, smarter, and more refined, but it also marks one of the most controversial turns in Synology’s hardware philosophy.
If you’ve been paying close attention to this particular space, you’ve probably already seen a fair share of headlines around the brand’s moves in 2025. And we’ll certainly get into that.
This review unpacks both sides of the equation: the welcome performance upgrades, and the company’s new approach to drive compatibility and network expansion that might leave some loyal users reconsidering their next NAS.
Design and Build: Familiar Looks, Subtle Shifts
At a glance, not much has changed. If you’ve seen one of these unit, you can probably draw a picture of its predecessor or successor. The DS925+ sticks to Synology’s trusted aesthetic: a matte black, minimalist box that fits cleanly into a desk setup or server shelf. The four front-facing bays support 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives, with tool-free installation for the former and tray locks for physical security. Cooling is managed by dual 92mm fans at the rear, and ventilation runs along the sides and base.
Idle acoustics are rated at a low 20.5 dB(A), though drive selection can impact that. With enterprise drives, I understand that you may hear it pushing past 48 dB(A) under heavy use.
Synology’s DS925+ strikes a balance of power and polish, giving small teams and home offices a NAS that feels seamless from setup to everyday use.
Under the Hood: More Multitasking Muscle
Synology’s shift to an AMD Ryzen V1500B CPU gives the DS925+ a solid edge over its predecessor. It’s a quad-core, eight-thread chip running at 2.2 GHz. This means more cores and threads than the dual-core R1600 in the DS923+, even if the base frequency is slightly lower. This translates to stronger multitasking for things like Docker containers, virtualization, and file-sharing.
The unit ships with 4 GB of DDR4 ECC memory and supports up to 32 GB via two SODIMM slots. While expandable, the base memory may feel tight for power users, especially as competitors start shipping with 8GB or more by default.
On the bottom are two PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe slots that support SSD caching or can be used as a dedicated storage pool… but only if you use Synology’s branded NVMe SSDs.
Connectivity: Gains and Losses
Here’s where things get complicated.
The DS925+ adds two 2.5GbE LAN ports as standard. This is a long-awaited upgrade that doubles theoretical throughput over the dual 1GbE ports found on previous models. These ports support link aggregation and SMB Multichannel for increased speed and failover.
But in the same breath, Synology has removed the PCIe slot. That means no more optional 10GbE expansion. You’re locked into a combined max throughput of 5Gbps, which is fine for many users but could be a hard limit for others.
Also new is a USB-C expansion port for connecting the DX525 5-bay unit, replacing the old eSATA interface. There are still two USB-A ports, but they’re now limited to external storage only. There is no support for peripherals like printers or wireless adapters.
Setup and the Drive Lockdown
Physically setting up the DS925+ is as clean and intuitive as you’d expect. Drive installation is still tool-free, RAM and NVMe upgrades are easy to access, and the entire process is well-documented. But once you power it on, you’re met with a change that has sparked some of the most vocal backlash Synology has seen in years.
With the DS925+, Synology introduces a hard enforcement of its new drive compatibility policy. On a fresh install, if the system detects drives that aren’t officially certified, meaning Synology-branded models, it will halt setup. Not warn. Not prompt. Halt.
Why It Matters
This policy isn’t entirely new; Synology began tightening compatibility enforcement on some of its business-oriented models a few years ago. But bringing it to the mainstream “Plus” line, where many tech-savvy home users, small businesses, and prosumers have historically relied on flexibility and cost-conscious component choices, is a sharp turn.
The Fallout
Across forums, Reddit threads, YouTube reviews, and user communities, the reaction has been intense. Long-time Synology users who previously praised the brand for its reliability and openness now find themselves priced out. Or perhaps worse in their eyes, forced to buy into a closed ecosystem that didn’t exist when they made their last NAS purchase.
Reviewers have echoed this tension. While many continue to praise DSM, Synology’s software suite, and the DS925+’s performance upgrades, the drive policy is repeatedly flagged as a major downside. The most consistent complaint? It fundamentally alters the value equation. A NAS that used to work seamlessly with trusted Seagate or Western Digital drives now requires users to pay a premium for Synology’s rebranded models, with no clear technical justification for the enforcement beyond ecosystem control.
Workarounds and Risks
Yes, there are unofficial bypasses such as scripts that advanced users can run via SSH to disable the drive check. However, using them means walking away from official support. For users running mission-critical data or who want peace of mind, that’s often not worth the risk. And for newcomers or IT staff managing multiple devices, these backdoor methods are a non-starter. Ask yourself as a tinkerer or novice user looking to grow into a small office setup – are you willing to goof around with your data?
It’s Not Just About Drives
The removal of the PCIe slot for 10GbE upgrades struck a similar chord. Reviewers and power users alike see it as a deliberate limitation, not a technical one.
Combined with the drive policy, it has led many to describe the DS925+ as Synology’s “Apple moment”, meaning it’s a pivot toward a vertically integrated, appliance-like model where hardware choice is traded for simplicity, and user control is traded for brand loyalty.
As a faithful and devoted Android user, I’ve long been about choice. I love when I can pick and choose the stuff I want and have it work just as well with various apps, services, carriers, other OEMs, and the like.
What pains me, though, and it’s been this way for me in many ways over the last few decades, is the trade-off. More specifically, it’s the less-than-perfect experience that comes with cobbling. As much as I hated Apple’s approach in the early days of the iPhone, I was jealous of the “it just works” approach.
Keeping everything under one roof, or tightening things up does have its benefits. Google’s taking control of the Nexus and then Pixel line of phones has ushered in a truly cohesive experience with the best of Android and smartphone promises that are delivered.
I get why Synology would want to do this. But as someone who doesn’t truly need a system like the DS925+ for daily usage, I can see why it might anger or irritate those who do. Nevertheless, you’ve probably made up your mind over whether you’re still considering one of these so let’s move on.
DSM and Applications: Still the Best in Class
Once you’re in, DiskStation Manager 7.2 continues to shine. DSM remains the strongest argument for choosing Synology. It’s stable, intuitive, and packed with useful applications:
- Synology Drive: A self-hosted Dropbox/Google Drive alternative with file streaming, sync, and sharing tools.
- Photos: Smart media management with AI-assisted sorting and facial recognition.
- Active Backup Suite: Free backup software for Windows, macOS, servers, and VMs.
- Virtual Machine Manager: For running Windows, Linux, or even DSM inside a VM.
- Surveillance Station: Supports up to 40 IP cameras with advanced NVR tools.
- Docker/Container Manager: Full container support for custom workloads.
It’s all license-free, and in many cases, business-grade.
Performance: Strong, But Strategically Capped
Real-world performance is strong, though ultimately limited by Synology’s choices. It’s here where I have to rely on the findings and experiences of others to help me appreciate performance.
With a single 2.5GbE connection, transfer speeds hover around 280-300 MB/s. Bonded connections (using SMB Multichannel) can approach 500 MB/s if your switch and client support it. That’s easily more than fast enough for most home users, photographers, or small teams.
But internal NVMe performance is constrained. Drive-to-drive transfers max out around 450 MB/s, and even single NVMe reads top out at 670 MB/s.
For media tasks, Plex runs well for most formats, including 1080p HEVC and 4K H.264. But without GPU support, this NAS can’t handle heavy 4K HEVC transcoding. If you rely on Plex to transcode large UHD files on the fly, you’ll run into CPU bottlenecks.
Energy Use
Power draw sits around 12W in idle, 38W during active use, and peak at around 62-64W when under full load. That’s relatively efficient from what I gather for a four-bay NAS with this much performance.
The Real Value: Software, Support, and the Drive Tax
At $639 for the diskless unit, the DS925+ is competitively priced. Then you’ll factor in the mandatory Synology drives.
Four 8TB Synology HAT3310 drives can cost around $800. By contrast, equivalent drives from Seagate or WD often cost hundreds less. The upcharge becomes even more dramatic with M.2 SSDs, where Synology-branded options can cost four to five times more than alternatives. A single SNV5420-800G runs $285 by itself when I checked for this review.
So while DSM and Synology’s enterprise-grade tools add serious long-term value, the upfront cost of ownership has climbed sharply. This is why I feel like heavier users, early adopters, and Synology fans made up their minds on the DS925+. It’s also easy to understand why a line is drawn.
Warranty and Support
The DS925+ comes with a three-year warranty, with an optional upgrade to five years via Synology’s Extended Warranty Plus. That plan includes advance replacement shipping, which can be a lifesaver in business environments where downtime matters.
Similarly, the Plus Series drives from Synology are also backed by a three-year warranty. And when it comes to peace of mind, things ought to be tighter and better than ever, right?
Who It’s For
- Small teams and businesses that will fully leverage DSM’s license-free backup, sync, and productivity tools
- Existing Synology users looking to upgrade from older models and are comfortable accepting the new drive policy
- Buyers who want stability and support and are willing to pay for it up front
Who Should Pass
- Budget-conscious users or those who want flexibility in choosing drives
- Media professionals or power users who need 10GbE or GPU-enabled transcoding
- Open platform enthusiasts who dislike vendor lock-in
Final Thoughts: Synology’s Defining Line in the Sand
Awarded to products with an average rating of 3.75 stars or higher, the AndroidGuys Smart Pick recognizes a balance of quality, performance, and value. It stands out in design, innovation, and user experience, delivering great functionality at a competitive price.
In the end, the DS925+ is a bit of a paradox. It’s the best the “Plus” line has ever been in some respects. It’s faster, smarter, and more capable out of the box. At the same time, it’s also the most divisive, drawing a clear line between those who are content inside Synology’s increasingly curated ecosystem and those who remember when this tier of NAS was a blank canvas for their own build-out.
For some, that trade-off is well worth it. You get a rock-solid software experience, excellent documentation, tight integration across tools, and peace of mind in knowing exactly what Synology will support. For others, especially those who built their setups around mixing and matching drives, swapping NICs, and staying agile, it feels like the door is closing.
Personally, I get both sides. I’ve felt the allure of a frictionless, cohesive system, and I’ve also felt the sting when a favorite brand pivots toward tighter control. Whether the DS925+ earns a spot in your setup likely depends less on what the spec sheet says and more on what kind of user you are. Or want to be.
If you just need a reliable NAS that “just works,” this one will likely make you very happy. If you’re the kind of person who likes to tweak, stretch, and grow into your gear on your own terms, you might be better off looking elsewhere.
And that’s what makes the DS925+ such a defining release for Synology. It’s not just a product update for 2025. This generation is more a statement of where the company is heading. Whether you’re on board with that or not, it’s probably time to decide.
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