If you use the network player of R26, it means that U18 and OCK2 are doing nothing in your chain now. Is it right? Can you give more details on this in terms of SQ?
Correct that the U18 is totally bypassed when the LAN input on the R26 is selected. However if an external clock is connected to both the U18 and R26 (or at least the R26) with ext clock selected in the R26 you'd still get the full benefit of it, at least as much as via I2S from the U18. Probably more as it seems likely both the R26's DAC and renderer/streamer sections benefit from the external clock. For full U18 chain clocking equivalency whatever streamer you're feeding the U18 with would need to be externally clocked too.
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