Best Server To Run Roon Core

FWiW, here's what I've done so far.  

Roon is running on a very low-powered old pre-existing computer (Intel Q9450 - way below an Intel i7 NUC, for example) running Windows 10 and located on our home (wired) network. Despite having up to three zones running at the same time, we have not experienced any dropouts in sound, and appears capable of supporting additional zones. This computer does not do anything but act as a Roon server. We've got our own library of about 700GB of flac files on the server, and additionally I have a Tidal subscription that we access via Roon. Once I understood the advantages of Roon, I purchased a lifetime license. No regrets so far. I will probably upgrade to a NUC (specifically a NUC8i7BEH) at some point in the near future for lower power consumption. 

For my main system, I purchased an Allo USBridge and Shanti LPS to stream to ($400 in total.)  The USBridge output goes to a Schiit Modius ($200), and from there into my preamp.  I'm a former musician, and my preference seems to be for a very transparent sound. The sound quality is very satisfying thus far. Having been bitten by the audiophile bug I am now slowly upgrading other parts of my system - for example, I purchased a Benchmark DAC3 and am going to run some blind tests of that against the Modius. The other relevant factor is the Tidal subscription - I have access to so much additional music (not that everything is on Tidal - it's not), and I'm discovering new things to listen to every day. I've heard $100K+ systems, and they're amazing - no argument there - but the bottom line is that this system makes me very happy on a daily basis. YMMV :)

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.