I am using a Windows Laptop with USB out to a Wyred Recovery USB (powered by linear PSU) into an Exogal Comet DAC. I use JRiver on the laptop for streaming music. I usually remote to the laptop but sometime I use DLNA and control music from my phone. I can use Youtube or any audio source on my laptop. The setup works for me and I have been pleased with the sound. I also have an HDMI cable from my laptop to my HT processor for streaming video.
I have read about Roon and I like the idea of a core that can feed different sources. A simple renderer (with high quality PSU) using Ethernet to access my music library could in theory sound better since I do not get the noise from the laptop. The down side is an annual membership or an expensive one time membership.
Questions:
Is Roon able to have the tools to tag media files similar to JRiver or would I use something like Media Monkey?- Is Roon better SQ than JRiver?
Could I use a renderer and access JRiver via DLNA and get similar results as Roon?
Thanks is advance for any insight. Happy Holidays!
Update:
I have done a lot more research to answer my first question regarding tagging Media in Roon. I do not know if I can manually update tags that are not identified by the Roon process that checks for changes to a media direcory.
I think a NAS makes sense. I could access the media files in the NAS with JRiver and stream directly as I do now.
If I get Roon, I would have a dedicated Windows machine with a SSD for the Roon core. Could I get a fanless NUC Windows machine and put it in my stereo rack as an endpoint to stream Roon media via USB to my DAC and via HDMI to my HT processor from the NAS across the network?