I like where this is going.
Just when I posted that I found Roon to be the biggest bottleneck, and you guys got a new player. Congratulations! I told you you were in good hands!
So, if the network streamed music is going to memory (RAM?) before being rendered and sent to the dac, does it mean that all the network related noise is bypassed? Or, will you always have some negative influence from the network as long as you are connected to it?
I don't know what the new player is doing but you can be sure Emile knows what he is doing. The digital source is a very complex interaction between hardware and software. There is nothing better than having the software and hardware designed for each other and change controlled from the same company. And with dual CPUs, 20 cores / 40 threads, and 48GB of RAM, the sky is the limit. An average decent office computer has 4 GB of RAM and 4 cores.
One quick example - the network tweaks when playing local files made a lot less difference with Euphony/Stylus than they did with Windows/Roon. I bet the new Taiko Audio Server would do some of the things that Euphony/Stylus does and will make the Extreme more immune to network tweaks (for local stored music). Streaming is different, but I won't go there now.
That new player would also open up some opportunities for cost savings on the Mini Extreme. For example, when loading the tracks to RAM first, a network based NAS storage solution would sound pretty good, and there would be no need for the expensive NVME local storage the Extreme uses. That would mean that you don't need full-height PCIe cards support, and the chassis can be smaller. Those are two very significant cost savings with relatively little sound quality impact. From my experience the local storage may still sound a little better, even when playing from RAM, but the difference is not worth the cost, especially when you're trying to get a stripped down version of the Extreme at a lower cost. So it's a win-win situation. The Extreme owners get consistent (and better) sound quality that Roon cannot F%^&$ up. The people who cannot afford the Extreme would be able to get the mini version cheaper.
Back to Will's question. It would probably never be completely immune to the impact of the network, just like no USB DAC is completely immune to the source... no matter what DAC manufacturers say ... we know better from experience! But from my DIY experience with different players on similar hardware, I can guarantee you that you would be thrilled with the sound quality of a well-designed player on your Extreme instead of Roon. I am excited for all of you. And hopefully one day I can try this TAS player too.
As for some of the debates on Roon functionality vs. TAS sound quality - it seems like you can flip a switch and switch between the two. That's what I did with Euphony - switching between Stylus and Roon. But to be honest over time I ended up using the better sounding Stylus player 99% of the time.
