Why would I need Roon?

OP.  You need something to run Roon Core.  A decent PC will work and some but not all NAS drives will work.  You can find plenty of suggestions on the Roon website.  

If you intended to use Roon long term, I suggest to invest in a decent NUC - especially, if you intend to use some of Roon’s more resource intensive DSP capabilities like upscaling.  Roon has by far the best music management interface and capabilities of any software that I’ve used to date.  To enjoy it, you’ll need a capable Roon Core host device.  

OP - I believe you can run Roon on your PC and then use the Node2i as the endpoint.  That way the PC does all the work but the endpoint is away from the noise of the PC so it should sound better (in theory, according to Roon).  I use a Raspberry Pi as my endpoint and the PC as the core.  Works fine (although as I stated, I'm not a fan of Roon's sound compared to other providers) 

@barts 

Your setup is similar to mine except I have an external DACalizer.  When you gots a few minutes to play around why don’t you fire up a Roon core on your network (pc,linux or Mac) host.  Really easy then to switch the BDP to an endpoint.  Roon Core will see it strait away, then just log into your Qobuz account.  I even have a code for a 60 day trial of Roon that came with my SGC ST I will let you have if you want to do some testing.   Get a 2nd opinion on how the MPD running on Manic Moose compares to The Roons.

I would be interested in a comparison of Roon vs. Bluesound.  I have a DAC/ integrated amplifier that can handle either.

@barts

Like you, I also have the Bryston BDP 3.0 / BDA 3.0 set up - and find the convenience and sound quality amazing - using the Bryston Manic Moose software.

And... like you... I do not understand how the BDP software can affect the sound quality in any manner.

So... I’m also very curious... as to how Roon, or any other BDP software, can have an effect on the sound quality of what’s being processed by the DAC. It would seem that the BDP software is only providing the digital file to the DAC and that "bits are bits," no matter how they’re being transmitted to the DAC.

So... count me among those that may be skeptical that there is any difference in the sound quality of a digital file until it is processed by the DAC.

Hopefully - there is someone here who has enough engineering knowledge to provide a rational explanation.

Though, I suppose it could relate to how quiet (noise free) the BDP is - some may well be quieter than others, and the interface cable can certainly make a difference in the sound quality (AES/EBU vs USB, etc.). So... I wonder if that is actually causing the difference in sound quality some are noting between software products.