Best Server To Run Roon Core

Hi ggoggin
Thank you for sharing your experience. Interesting!

djones
As you probably know, LPSs can range anywhere from 60 bucks to a few thousand. For the NUC, I would use a Paul Hynes which runs about $750+cables . They are almost impossible to find used.

thyname
Right now I use an Esoteric K01 Dac. Not Roon ready. My current streamer is Aurender N10. It is not compatible with Roon, but I’ll use to compare SQ

@jmarshak
I had the lumin u1 , comparing the lumin with the wolf streamer, using the t+a sd3100 hv dac , the lumin lacked in every aspect . The sound stage was smaller , the bass was not clean and defined , the high was harsher with less detail . The wolf sounded more organic , the highs were not echy, the vocals were whole and the bass very defined and clean.
Comparing the wolf with the statement, the bass was very similar , the mid was slightly less focused through the statement and the high lacked a tiny detail through the statement.
I have played diff formats in comparing the statement and wolf including dsd 512 and the results have been consistent. Hope this helps .
you can contact joe Parvey he is always looking forward to talking to you .

@newtoncr, 

You have a beautiful system. Thanks for your feedback. 
Enjoy! 

@jmarshak  --- your Esoteric K-01 is a SACD/CD player but it is also a USB & S/PDIF DAC. You can get a Roon Ready streamer that has USB out to your K-01. That streamer can be anything (depending on how much money you want to spend), including something like what I mentioned earlier, Sonore microRendu or ultraRendu. Then you Server (Roon Core on roon's lingo) will stay in a different machine, such as NUC, Nucleus.

That's the two-piece solution Roon often recommends. But only because people tend to use noisy general purpose computers as both Core and Endpoint, which degrades the sound. If you do use a great one-piece solution, optimized for audio, such as the Wolf or Innuos mentioned above, you certainly can, it's definitely a (good) option.

@newtoncr - thank you for sharing your experience and findings. Very helpful. I actually wonder how the Lumin X1 would compare with Wolf and Statement.

@thyname - I understand what you are saying. Splitting server and renderer is recommended mainly to isolate both sides from cross process noises and I well built single chassis machine should be able to handle isolation better internally.

This is an option of course.