[quote="TubeDriver"]Thanks. The aesthetic of having my dac , plus a rendu, an outboard power supply and power wires for all this, bothers me. The Roon nucleus appeals to me as a one box solution using my ipad as a controller screen. But perhaps one box will always be a compromise sonically?
Well, here's my two cents. There's nothing wrong with a "one box" solution. You can lose your mind adding dongles and linear power supplies and such. But you can do better than the laptop. Buy a refurbed 2014 Mac Mini for $400, do some system optimizing, install Roon, set it next to your DAC and use your iPad as a remote. I use a 2014 Mac Mini with Audirvana and I guarantee that if you came out to hear it you wouldn't have a single complaint.
. I'm trying to get my pal Jim there in DC to do the same thing but he's not there yet.