Roon core can run on a linux, windows or Apple PC as an application, or on a dedicated X86 device configured with Roon Rock.
Does the speed of the computer matter in terms of sound quality? Would a i7 intel nuc sound better than a i5 surface pro. I would like to have something like a surface so i could just go on it to change the song.
No.
It matters in terms of the size of the library, the number of audio endpoints (Zones) that can be simultaneously supported and whether you are using DSP on the Zones.
A Surface Pro makes an excellent Roon Remote to control Roon (one of my Roon Remotes is a Surface Go 2), but as has been pointed out earlier, you may run into WiFi issues if you try and use it as the Core (Roon Server) as well.
Not directly. If you are not using any DSP processing in the Core, it has no effect whatsoever (as long as it is fast enough to actually work with your library). If you are using DSP, as long as it can process the signal faster than it needs to be played, it will also make no difference. If it can’t, you will get stuttering and dropouts.
Is there a device similar to a surface that could connect to ethernet? I like the idea of a tablet so that it could be set up by the stereo and you could just choose the song on there and not have to use a remote device.
You can certainly use a Surface device as a Roon Remote - they are well-suited for this. All we are saying is that you should not try and combine it with running a Roon Server on it.
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Is there something like a surface that could run roon core?
The Surface has a USB connector where you can add an ethernet dongle. You could also try running it on wifi as a Core - it may just work, depending on your wifi. It’s just that wifi fails earlier than ethernet depending on the load (how many zones simultaneously, does the Core use network to send to a streamer or is a DAC connected directly, etc.) and the wifi quality, and Roon recommends ethernet to avoid that.
I strongly disagree.
A Wi-Fi connected Surface Pro running Roon Server and Roon while pulling local files from a NAS and streaming to an endpoint would be a bad idea.
But that is not what Ryan wants to do. He wants only to stream Qobuz and/or Tidal to a USB DAC.
A Wi-Fi connected Surface Pro running Roon Server and Roon while pulling streams from Qobuz and/or Tidal and outputting to a USB connected DAC probably would be fine.
The larger caveat here is that Ryan really does not need Roon to do what he wants to do. Qobuz and/or Tidal apps themselves can accomplish much the same.
AJ
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Do I need a powerful computer for the Roon core even if I am just streaming from Tidal or Qobuz?
The requirements are the same whether an album is in your library from Qobuz or from local files. That’s because all the metadata, credit crosslinks between the albums, etc., are the same work to maintain. It’s one of the great things about Roon that it adds this information regardless of whether the album is local or on streaming.
As was said though, the Surface has enough power for a library that isn’t enormous.
Being a very happy and full of Schitt owner, no where do they claim “ROON Ready”. Check FAQ Bifrost2/64 DAC: “works great with ROON”, and it certainly does!
They do so on the page linked further up: “All of our DACs are Roon Ready.”
https://www.schiit.com/guides/streamer-connections
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It does, but, if you read the text you realize they are misusing the terminology. And they are talking Roon Tested.
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Yeah that’s the point
They’re probably just trying to say “our DAC’s are ready for Roon”… but USB DAC’s can’t be Roon Ready, that monica’s reserved for network devices only. All Schiit need to do is change “Ready” to “Tested” and its all good 
- as long as “They have been profiled by the Roon team to ensure simple setup and effortless daily use.”.
The problem is that they capitalized ‘Ready’. If they had written ‘Roon ready’, even tho they meant ‘Roon Tested’, it would have been sorta OK.
I sent them an e-mail 3 days ago, but (as I suspected) they never responded. 
Yes, of course. I just answered to “no where do they claim “ROON Ready””
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