If you go the i5 route get it with ROCK installed if possible (I don’t know if possible). Again, going the dedicated Core route you’ll want something running ROCK not some other OS with Roon Server on top. ROCK is the most optimized and you’ve given yourself a good opportunity to experience it here.
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The settings under “Devie setup” are zone-specific to let Roon know about the capabilities of your DAC. These influence what processing, if any, Roon applies to the signal. For example, if you specify that the DAC is an MQA Decoder but not renderer, Roon will not perform MQA Core Decoeding since the DAC does not know how to render the results.
On your networking setup, do you have Internet service in your main house or only in the guest cottage. If your main house and guest cottage are networked together, you can place your router, switch, and Core somewhere in the main house and just run network connections to the cottage. You don’t have to put your networking gear in the bathroom. 
On your strategy in general, Core is not in the signal path, so sound quality will not change by migrating it to different hardware. If you have other reasons to do so (performance, ease of maintenance, flexibility of placement), by all means, but this is not a sound-quality play.
From where you are now, the surest way to “WOW” with Roon is to stop using the DAC that’s internal to your SACD 30n for streaming. Instead, purchase a dedicated external DAC for use with Roon. There are lots of great options, including the Topping D90SE, Gustard X18, Denafrips Venus II, Lampizator Baltic 3. It’s likely that any of these, when paired with a suitable network bridge, like the iFi ZEN Stream, will perform better with Roon than your SACD 30n.
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You are speaking from personal experience with the SACD 30N i suppose?
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Nope. Just deduction from what has been discussed in this thread. The OP has asserted that the DAC in the SACD 30n performs poorly with Roon, so keeping it in the signal path makes no sense.
I do have direct experience with the DACs mentioned, or close association with trusted associates who have, so I feel good about suggesting them.
I’m still not sure of how you connect your 30n to Roon. Is it via USB (either directly from the Mac Mini or via the Zen or other USB-output streamer)? If so, I’m not surprised that the sound quality falls short from its other data paths. In my experience, very few USB audio inputs even in high-priced gear are as good as the “primary” input for the device (as SACD in this case). Sure they get the bits right, but they tend to contaminate the DAC’s innards with electrical noise from the USB source.
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Yup…my thinking as well, which is why I suggested going the route of a dedicated external DAC that’s known to work well with Roon.
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So in the case of the ifi Stream into a Topping D70S MQA would you prefer Co-ax or USB input?
If MQA rendering is a priority, USB is the only option with the D70S MQA, as far as I can tell. Otherwise, I would spend a week listening over USB, another week listening over S/PDIF and compare notes to help me decide which I prefer. Which input sounds better seems to vary from DAC to DAC and may be somewhat transport-dependent as well.
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I’m confident the DAC is not the issue as Roon not sounding the best to me has persisted across the DirectStream, SGCD, and Border Patrol. And the Marantz is better than any of those.
David, you’re a smart, articulate dude. You might have a wee blind spot in your Bro-mance with Roon. It seems that no matter what comes your way you’ve decided that Roon exhibits the highest heights of possible audio quality. And if one is not hearing that, then the problem MUST be elsewhere in the system.
Roon is the absolute best digital music library management system on the planet. But Roon is in no regard the pinnacle of possible audio quality within the audiophile universe. Not even close.
The question for me is can I get Roon close enough to be ok? That remains to be seen. It’s certainly not from lack of trying!
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But he is also very appreciative of the same DAC while playing physical media… I’ll just leave this to contemplate.
I probably have the terms a bit mixed up. The Marantz is Roon Ready. It plays via USB and airplay in an integrated way. It cannot connect to Roon over the network, which is what I thought RAAT meant. But I’m not completely fluent in Roon techno lingo.
You do. The Marantz range is NOT Roon Ready - it is Roon Tested. A different kettle of fish.
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You’re nearly there! Roon Ready mean the unit has RAAT protocol implemented and certified. Your unit is likely Roon Tested, which means it plays nice as a DAC on the end of an Roon Bridge or over AirPlay. (yes, im simplifying a bit, but near enough)
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I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but roon should hire @David_Snyder to groom/maintain the KB/help stuff. Very clear, cogent explanations and writing.
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+1000
If they even simply approved, codified and distributed @David_Snyder ’s already written content and let him write a few more with our encouragement, we’d be in far better shape.
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Not all inputs are the same even though, in theory, they should be.
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It depends on exact hardware configuration. I did blind tests pre-Roon with various well-regarded DACs and integrated amps — Naim, Bel Canto, Hegel, Holo Audio, Metrum Acoustics – on which some connection methods (mainly USB) where consistently inferior to others. With a variety of digital sources, including some well-regarded ones (Sonore, Auralic, Metrum). I’ve experienced comparable differences due to hardware configuration with Roon, and no differences between Roon and other audio software when the tracks and hardware configuration were the same.
Some find it hard to accept that their expensive digital audio endpoints sound different with different digital inputs, but unfortunately that’s more the rule than the exception. The specific circuitry that gets bits to the actual DAC circuitry makes a real difference, because keeping upstream electrical noise from the delicate analog circuitry of the DAC is harder than it seems.
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I’m surprised that no one has suggested trying out different Roon Ready streamer/endpoints using the DAC in your Marantz SACD player. My experience is that different streamers sound different using Roon and that better power supplies and circuitry on the streamers can make a difference in sound.
If I had the budget, I would try the Auralic Aries G1. I would be shocked if the Aries G1 does not sound better than the iFi Zen Stream. You could also try the much less expensive Cambridge Audio CXN-2.
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Sorry to be picky, but streamers don’t “sound different.” They are supposed to do nothing to the sound. DACs may sound different with different sources because they may be sensitive to electrical noise from sources. Electrically better sources may make DACs sound better. But really well-designed DACs should be able to handle any basically capable source without sound changes.
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One way to make any USB-DAC input agnostic of the upstream equipment introducing electrical noise into the analog domain is to truly galvanically isolate it.
There are comparably cheap devices available to facilitate this for even the highest of current (up-)sampling rates.
It’s cheaper and technically superior to using i.e. “audiophile grade streamers” ignoring that fact and/or “low noise linear power supplies” which might only help to reduce those interference levels.
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