Like you, my preference is a physical remote for basic controls like play, pause etc. Over the years, I have gone through multiple different approaches.
Initially, I used a Harmony remote control with the Deep Harmony extension (Roon Extension: Deep Harmony - rich feature set for Logitech Harmony).
This was followed by a short period of using a Surface Dial with RooExtend (rooDial a Wireless Volume Knob for Roon with Microsoft Surface Dial).
Nowadays, I am using the above mentioned Unfolded Circle Remote on a daily basis as well as a Philips Hue Tap Dial with @gTunes’s HA blueprint.
As mentioned above, Ropiee with a Flirc dongle and any IR remote is another option. If I remember correctly, you can configure this setup in a way that it controls another endpoint. I.e. you could use a Ropieee setup to control your Pro-ject streamer.
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