I can’t seem to find a definitive answer to this.
I have a Win11 PC running Core, it’s connected to a Roon Bridge on Server 2019 through a network switch.
All music files are on this Bridge, which connects via USB to a DAC.
Roon Core sees this DAC just fine.
When I ask Core to play a stored wav file on this Bridge does the signal flow directly from the Bridge to the DAC OR back through the Core PC via ethernet, then back to the Bridge then finally out the usb to the DAC?
Since your Watched Folder is on your Server 2019, then played files are accessed over the network from your Roon Core (Roon Server), so the content is first sent to the Roon Server and then back out over the network to your Roon Bridge.
I’m guessing there are no settings in Roon to bypass that. Any suggestions on a better way to more directly control the signal path? I used to Remote Desktop into Server 2019 and run Jriver directly, but it froze requiring reboot far too often. Thank You.
Roon is working as designed. Having Watched Folders on a network share is one of the supported methods of accessing Watched Folders. Unless there is something seriously wrong with your network, there will be no impact on performance.
The only downside is that some NASes do not flag changes in content to the Roon Server, and then it can be set to rescan the Watched Folder on a preset interval.