Where do I go next?

Not sure I’m smart enough to take on a NUC !

A Nucleus or NUC is a good way to go if you are having any problems running Roon on a computer. If you have any stops, skips, drop-outs, etc. or if the fan noise is audible. Don’t buy a NUC or Nucleus for SQ because it won’t make any audible difference or any difference at all, I don’t believe.

I have a Nucleus and it is great. They look cool also. I suspect you could do a NUC also. It doesn’t look that difficult and there is lots of help on this forum.

Stop fretting. Get all the kit with fans out of the room. Plug the Lumin into ethernet. Roon Ready. MQA if you want it. Make some coffee. Put some music on. Done.

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NUC an is incredibly easy install and a fun, albeit brief, project with a sense of “look, I did this!”

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Those are great speakers! One thing you might try is full range room correction. Roon has an excellent convolution engine and while Lyngdorf’s Room Perfect is good, it deals only with with bass/mid (AFAIK). With your speakers up against the front wall you will have some reflections that Room Perfect won’t deal with.
Read through Mitch Barnett’s article on DRC and see if this is an area you’d like to explore. https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/ca-academy/acourate-digital-room-and-loudspeaker-correction-software-walkthrough/
Mitch Barnett also has articles on Audiolense (somewhat easier to use than Acourate) and Dirac Live (currently not compatible with Roon’s convolver. There are rumours that Roon and Dirac are talking, however)

Wayne,

HQPlayer is a software option that gives you an incredible amount of control over the digital stream that you deliver to the DAC from your PC. It’s pricey and a little complex, but it is incredibly powerful and gives you a ton of options for manipulating the stream.

The Wyred 4 Sound Recovery device makes lots of promises about improving the sound by reclocking the USB from your computer, and I have found that to be true in my case, though that is a sample of one, so take that into account.

If neither of these looks useful, then the next step appears to be to enjoy the music!

Best,

Phil

I can second the effectiveness of the W4S device, it can make a difference to the sound of USB, between a NUC and a DAC with the DAC powered by a regular brick.