Running PC as a second Core for only Tidal

I am running Roon on a Nucleus at home - love it works great sounds great.
I am putting a new system in my office and looking to do a smaller/simpler setup.
Adding a dedicated Roon server starts to become challenging due to ethernet wiring etc. in the office environment. Current plan is to use Tidal connect into Bluesound NODE connected over wifi.

I understand I COULD use my laptop (high-end Surface Book2) as my second core. But have read a lot about bandwidth, RAM issues, fan runnning etc. My internet connection is fine but not great and I spend a lot of time screen sharing and on video meetings.

Here is the question: If I am ONLY using the Core to run Tidal will that use less computing resources? Or is serving up local music not the issue.

Curious if anyone has experience with this.

When you are ready to Beta a cloud solution let me know :wink:

You only need one Core. Your NODE should show up as an output that you can enable via any Control.

Should have been more clear that this is a different location. Corporate office not home.

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Ah. Corporate office. Makes sense. For that use case, I found that Audirvana works best.

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Being a corporate office and the operating conditions described, I would not recommend Roon, but a simpler software (for example the desktop application from Tidal).

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Desktop Tidal is the cloud solution you are looking for. Why complicate things further?

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The reason for Roon and a second core could also be aesthetics, metadata enrichment or better linking for further exploration.


But this is a work/office based system, where the OP states that:

I spend a lot of time screen sharing and on video meetings.

Search and click Play is all that should be required. Obviously, the Search requirement rules out Roon at present, he may miss the start of meetings trying to find stuff… :grinning:

:rofl:especially before video conferences it would be very useful to offer not only the musical but also the visual queue via Roon. What is an agitator or a soother, everyone has to find out for themselves. Incidentally, with this approach one can continue to pursue one’s own passion for music while working. More than 8 hours of profit for everyone. The reason to turn it off, if it does not fit the activity, everyone should bring up, or the boss helps with it. :rofl:

Winner! Wow. Where were you in my life 25 years ago. This is the best advice ever.
I do like playing from the Roon interface over Tidal; but end of the day going to give Tidal connect a try.

But Roon team, if you are listening, I would pay a pretty big premium to be able to stream off the Roon platform (even if not from local files on my home Nucleus/NAS) the other locations where I listen (second home, office etc.).

Sonos works great for this - but I am running into higher resolving systems (relatively) and just don’t feel like their SQ is there.

Thank you for all the comments.

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