@Dan_Rosen you can definitely run HQPlayer on a NUC running Ubuntu with Roon Server.
On Ubuntu Server (20.04.3 LTS) you can run both Roon Server and HQPlayer Embedded license.
It is free to try.
I shared the Ubuntu and Roon Server command lines in this post a few days ago:
Quietening my listening room whilst keeping HQ Player - #8 by dabassgoesboomboom
What you can and can’t do with HQPlayer depends on processing power available. But it’s free to try to see what your NUC can and can’t do.