A few days ago I installed a trial of Roon on my Macbook Pro, using that as a Core and Roon browser app. I stream Tidal through Chromecast Audio (through Toslink) to a DAC which is then connected to an amp.
I’m kind of thinking aloud here, hoping to get some more insights.
I’d prefer to have a separate device to run the Core which is always on, so that I don’t have keep the laptop on all the time. I would like to keep the system rather simple and not spend too much money on different extra devices.
So I thought I could get Intel NUC and run ROCK on it and to connect it to DAC through USB, but I see that this is not a recommended setup. Another possibility I thought of was Mac Mini, but that also should be connected to DAC through USB (some Mac Mini models do have an optical output as well, though). I would prefer a wired connection, so to connect ROCK or Mac Mini Core to the 4G router through ethernet. Perhaps the easiest way would be to get Mac Mini and connect that to the router and use CCA for streaming.
If I have a fanless ROCK or Mac Mini connected through USB, would that affect the sound quality compared to streaming through CCA?
What other simple configuration options are there, if I’d like to use the existing DAC (DSPeaker-Anti-Mode 2.0)? Preferably without a separate “endpoint”.
If I have a headless Core, would the remote work as nicely as it does now when the Core and the browser app are on the same machine?