I hope so. It seems so. That is the reason I read the Taiko thread -- to get a glimpse of that future.Taiko is at the forefront in what will become a more significant wave of audiophile network components.
They are unique in their holistic approach and that requires a lot of innovation, dedication and resources. To take on the task of creating their own playback software is rather bold (Go Team Taiko!). From user feedback, they have already succeeded in improving the sound significantly. The only question for the user might be what they give up in certain metadata functionality and the like vs. something like Roon in order to get better sound. It is wise that they also include Roon with the Extreme. Some folks might use both and that is a good option to have.
My own streamer was built with Roon in mind and they seem to have succeeded because the sound is very, very good (that is, musically engaging). I haven't tried another streamer in many years, so have no comparison. I compare it to live music and gauge it by my enjoyment. Works very well in both respects.
But the MU1 is also a DDC with some secret sauce. What I'm hearing is the combination of the network side (does a good job of rejecting upstream noise) and the sampling magic. Seems similar in concept to what Taiko is trying to do to benefit their server by offloading some of the work to the switch that precedes it. The MU1 does the difficult math so that the DAC can take it relatively [pun alert] easy (does that mean the MU1 is the Mileva Mari? of the pairing? ).