I think this depends on the DAC in question.
For example, a Schiit Modi Multi, utilizes the specialized “burrito” filter on content up to 96kHz. Above that, ie 176 and 192, it becomes a NOS DAC. There is a difference, and if one prefers the customized filter then upscaling to the highest rate is not the answer.
New one on me, good advice if applicable.
I am using the matching Peachtree Sona Amp
https://www.peachtreeaudio.com/sonaamp-power-amplifier.html
Yup, looks good.
Ok. Clearly no problem there!
Looking at how the speakers are set up, it could help imaging and staging to bring them out from the wall a little bit. Quite often, toeing the speakers in toward your listening position can also help imaging.
Since you used DSP and ‘rabbithole’ in the same sentence I understand the reluctance. But for the price of a calibrated microphone you can answer a question of how the frequency response looks in your room, at the place you listen from. If it looks fine, that’s great. More often its a trainwreck. Then you can decide a next step, if any.
Again, not an explanation as to why you liked Audirvana better, but I noticed that your speakers aren’t very efficient. Maybe you need more horsepower?
Also, just as an experiment, try moving speakers out more from the wall and don’t place anything between them. Just an experiment, I assume you have to make compromises with your partner.
Seconded on the toe in.
Try experimenting, a lot depend on the room as well as the speakers but don’t be afraid to try an aggressive toe in.
Speaker placement even though there is no port on the back how far from the wall do you recommend?
More horsepower = more money not sure what to look at?
You’ll have to experiment. I have Triton 5s, which I really like, and I place them about 3 feet from the front wall and 2-3 feet from the sides. This gives me a deep, expansive sound stage. I don’t believe the presence or absence (in my case) of rear ports are the only factors in determining speaker from wall placement.
Toed in so that the image converges just behind my ears.
I wouldn’t invest in more amp until you exhausted all other options.
I think B&W recommend at least half a metre from any wall and at least one and a half metres apart.
I would also be tempted to compare them at zero and 20 degree toe in.
BTW unless I misread the spec your current amp looks like it has plenty of grunt for those speakers.
Flat compared to what? When you say “flat” and attribute it to a product (in this case Roon) that generally means you’re getting what you want from something else and then the quality degrades when using Roon.
If you’re system is generally “flat” with all sources then anything you do with Roon is not going to help. You’ve got to start from the speakers and work your way back to the source. Do the speakers match your listening style? Are they placed in the room appropriately? Is the amp matched well? etc. etc.
As others have already suggested moving your speakers around to optimize their placement is the right place to start. The easiest way to start that process is by using the rule of thirds. There are plenty of other paths to determining speaker placement but I find the rule of thirds the simplest to follow. Here is one example / explanation http://thespeakerguys.blogspot.com/2007/10/where-to-place-speakers-in-room.html
Once you’ve got things set-up within the rule of third then move the speakers a few inches at a time to see if that general rule can be improved on. A few inches closer or further from the back wall. Speakers a few inches closer together or further apart. Once your speaker placement is optimized it will be a lot easier to hear difference in things like cables, upsampling, etc.
Hi Steven, if you’re going to do SRC it’s recommended to apply some headroom management… I see it’s disabled there in your screenshot…
I’d enable it and start with the recommended -3dB… if you’re sticking with SRC. If you don’t like what SRC does you can disable it and disable headroom management.
asynchronous upsampling has a negative effect on generated distortions, better is synchronous upsampling and not unnecessarily high, because then ADCs produce higher distortions. So 44.1khz -> 88.2kHz, 48kHz -> 96kHz, leave all other Sampling frequencies like this.
Like what?
No adjustment
My longtime audio dealer who also sells Peachtree went against his own wallet a few years ago by steering me clear of Peachtree when was looking for a small yet powerful amp for a specific part of my house.
Had a listen in his auditorium and I had to agree with him. The Nova 150 I listened to sounded… well… flat.
B&W’s need an agile amp. They’re not the easiest to power and need careful pairing in my experience.
I’d look into my amp-speaker pairing before I’d start throwing money at contentious (believers vs non believers) stuff like cabling and such.
Also, as rightly stated by others before me: speaker placement and room conditions are the first steps to look into.
After all, your NUC is just the thing that feeds the components that do the heavy lifting, i.e. the DAC, the amp and the speakers. Especially the amp and the speakers are routinely overlooked in threads like this one. Which is strange because these components bring the actual sound to your ears 
Agree with everything you said, but it doesn’t explain why the OP likes the sound of Audirvana on the same system.
Unless, Audirvana does something artificial to pump up a part of the frequency.
Dunno.
.
I am totally stumped. I am playing some John Coltrane Settin The Pace and it sounds really good.
Sure its a FLAC 192kHz 24bit file, yet it just lights up the room,
In regards to Audirvana, it must be applying some kind of eq curve or something by default, whereas Roon by default make no such adjustments? Just guessing I don’t know enough about this kind of stuff…
