Not quite… I believe that the server either does or does not have an influence on sound quality.
If it does not, get the server that provides the best experience in all regards, ignoring any claims about sound quality.
If it does, there are things you can do (like isolation via networked endpoints) to eliminate the explainable effects that you believe might be attributing to negative sound quality. Therefore you should get the server that provides the best experience in all other regards, ignoring the claims about sound quality.
I believe if you focus on sound quality in the server by downgrading the CPU, you will compromise the server’s experience with Roon.
This is no surprise however, we’ve built Roon with this strategy from the start. Others have done this as well. For example, the strategy behind HQ Player relies on heavy CPUs/GPUs (much heavier than Roon requires), and the results are spectacular.
Show me any device that claims that good SQ requires low CPU performance, and I’ll counter that with exhibit #2: HQ Player.