Optimum hardware setup and relating to JRiver

I run a main rig with PC to USB DAC using JRiver controlled by a wireless keyboard, with all media on a Synology NAS. Also on the home network are a SB Boom, Radio, SB3 and a Touch.

I have not installed Roon yet as I am trying to understand where on the network I should best install it, and how it will or won’t play with JRiver.

I can easily (and very happily) disable LMS on the NAS so Roon can replace that. I have an Android tablet and a good home wifi network so control also seems no problem.

The site emphasizes that the Roon Core is quite processor intensive, and I doubt that my DS1812+ NAS really has the grunt to run Roon well.

A convenient option is to load Roon on a spare PC that could be attached to the network and left on all the time. If I did so, how much disk space would it need for the library files? (it only has a small SSD, but it wouldn’t be running anything else).

Assuming that setup, and based on my current understanding, I would have the full Roon interface and control through the tablet or a phone, and would be able to directly operate all the SB devices.

How would it work on the main rig, where the USB DAC is only connected to the PC there, on which JRiver is installed?

Would JRiver need to be open, or could Roon recognise the PC and its connection to the DAC without involvement of JRiver? (which I would anyway keep, even if it ends up being only for video)

Any guidance, or comments on where I may be missing the point, would be much appreciated before I take the plunge.

Install a Roon Core (ie Roon Server or Roon) on the fastest machine you have, with SSD. The database is large, but dependent on the number of albums in your collection. I have an inordinately large music collection and my database is 28GB, so the space requirements aren’t onerous.

Control would be via a tablet or smartphone (iOS or Android) but a tablet yields a much better experience. There’s no need to have JRiver running when using Roon. If Roon is not installed on the same machine that your DAC is connected to you’d have to install Roon Bridge on that machine to enable it to receive the audio stream from the Roon core and send it on to your DAC.

I have a PC running Jriver too…in the Media server mode and using jRemote to manage playback, or if I chose to use the Jriver MC (21) interface but most use as Remote.

Roon Server also runs on the same machine. and likewise has the Roon interface running as a remote if I need it, but I use the Roon remotes on iPad and phone and mac etc when managing playback.

my W10 machine is a modest 16GB Ram i5-6500 CPU and 256GB SSD and thats all it does. all works fine

Many thanks Evan for your comprehensive and clear reply. The Roon Bridge was the link in the chain that I had missed.
My library is about 120,000 tracks, but with only Windows 10 and Roon Core loaded then even with its tiny 80GB SSD it sounds like it should be ok.
Now I just need to rebuild the PC so it can run W10 properly (already planned before Roon came on my radar) and I’ll be ready to give this a shot.

Thanks also Paul. As I want this available all the time for the SBs I think it will be better to use a separate PC for Roon anyway. The additional one will be identical to the one on the rack running JRiver, which has the same RAM as yours, but an earlier generation and low wattage CPU (i5 4570T) as it is in a passively cooled enclosure. The other big difference is the tiny SSD. The upgrade for the one I’ll use for Roon is to replace the motherboard and CPU to match the one on the rack, as the current one is a 2nd generation CPU and not comfortable running W10.
Shifting to tablet control of the main hifi is also attractive, as I just run MC21 using a wireless keyboard, which is fine for me but less convenient for visitors.
Starting to look forward to this!