The Innuos can act as a streamer as well. I use it both as a network server/Roon Core and as a local streamer connected by usb to a DAC. Innuos have £1,000 entry level to £10,000 Statement. There latter is meant to be rather good.
Personally, I think the SGM price is really cool, I just don’t have that amount of cash lying around.
I got room remote crashed all time when open it on latest iOS 14.4 on my iPhone 12 mini which has forced me to restart my iphone, i know that can be an issue from roon server indexing large albums into its DB, the mobile app may not be in the right time 
not sure the latest patch has been release on appstore yet.
The bad thing i have with current setup is that my CXN V2 always does upsampling all digital input to 384Khz by its ATF2 which is not bit transparency as i expected. with some crap PCM 44khz flac encode , the upsample create bunch of nonsense artifact and quantum bits, hence the sound kinda funny (high frequency sounds like sibilant) that i would rather stop the roon and go back to my CXN basic streaming via DNLA. I know this is not the fault of roon, its just a default setting on CA CXN / Edge DAC line. but the sample rate conversion toggle button on room app does not even help with enable/disable set
There are so many people using Cambridge Audio with Roon, Im sure there is an answer in the Roon Community. I use a Cambridge Audio CXA81 DAC/player. It is Roon Tested and connects directly to my Roon Core by usb operating as a streamer (streaming mode is called “Roon Transport”).
I run it on a custom built server. Euphony is an OS so it replaces whatever OS is installed on the box. It can be run on a usb stick tho.
As others have mentioned separating core from endpoint yields better SQ also.
Well i just retired the CXA 81 with DAC built in , basically i don’t like the sound of CXA 81 DAC, it’s a little bit thin to me 
. I’m currently using the CXN V2 with roon ready and waiting for the GCD coming as preamp. now CXN V2 serving as roon entity and digital preamp output via XRL to M700s only.
Honestly, i’m not so impressed with the dual Wolfson WM8740 24-bit come with the CXN lines, and not a fan of Sabre ES9016K2M either. I’m on favor for the AKM chips, my last DAC and streamer is pioneer N70 network player, (it defeats the CXN V2 and even the Azur 815N all the aspects ) the 32 bit mode of N70 work nicely, the sound is also amazing with very details and clean. the guitar string pop out of the background as i still remembered. ( love the N70)
Maybe roon is not my choice , it is just a testing only, the upsampling by default sucked. a TEAC NT-505 is in the target for both DAC streamer and preamp with reasonable price as well.
Anybody here tried the TEAC NT-505 ?
My current system:
The CXA81 still there , but connect to nowwhere
I don’t know what it is about the iPhone 12, but I have read countless complaints that it doesn’t play nicely with Roon. I have an iPhone 8 in need of an upgrade, but I’m waiting to see if this is ever resolved.
i don’t have app crashed in ipad iOS 14.4 , but the sample rate conversion does not have DSD option as the app on wndows and iphone does has, you know why ?
I think the Sabre chip used in the Gain Cell Dac is ESS Sabre 9010. Chips and components do matter, but how they’re put in a design and utilised in a device has most of the impact.
Roon knows how to keep a suspense …
One email every day for a whole week.
Teasers 
I have a fanless Linux box as my Roon core with an LPS powering it right before my matrix takes over. Is that sloppy? I could get a little fancier and put in another fanless Linux box or a raspberry pi (to do something…anything). Sounds pretty good to me, but connectivity has always been a bit suspect (iOS device or pixelbook, for example).
Yes I’ve read in other forums that the statement is very good. I hear you on SGM price. It’s crazy but I started to read a long thread on its components and the design that went into it. Right now I’m demoing a Select II DAC, which is very impressive. I’m most interested in the reference but the dealer nor MSb had one available for demo. What this demo period taught me is that after I purchased it, I would be better off replacing my amps with something more transparent over getting a better streamer. But back to your original point, I can’t agree with you more that hardware changes make a huge difference to Roon’s quality.
How long ago did Roon raise the cost of a lifetime subscription? I’m nearing the end of a 90-day-for-one-cent trial, and have been looking at my options, and I was surprised to see the new price. I’m at the point in my life where successful amortization of that amount is questionable. 
Yes, if you stream from a computer through usb, you will be amazed by what a Nucleus or other serious non computer server can do. When I switched from my Toshiba laptop to the Roon Nucleus +, the improvement was huge.
And, as recommended by Roon, the Ethernet output is the preferred output over usb.
And indeed, they recommend a separate bridge/audio device. That was the other quantum leap in performance, when I replaced the bridge with a Lumin U1.
The last one was the Matrix (resistance is futile 
).
No wonder Paul doesn’t like Roon, on a laptop or Mac mini with USB 
It’s been at least a year possibly longer . I bought in at $499 and never looked back.
You can’t take it with you.
Me too, as soon as I got wind of the pending increase for a lifetime license…
I sincerely hope PSA finds enough customers for Octave because I am a PSA fan, with a P20, stellar phono, DMP and DSD.
But without Roon support, and without a software track record (eLyric, DMP), it is an enormous leap of faith for the company.
But Paul has made miracles many times. I am optimistic 
In fairness to Roon they made it clear that the lifetime was going up well in advance. I was pissed that I missed the lifetime offer before it increased to $499. Roon wants to stay in the monthly subscriber model and they’ve made it clear that that’s their preference. Get it while you can is the lesson here.
Made it clear to whom, I suppose is an appropriate question. People who were already signed on?
Nevertheless, it is what it is, and my post wasn’t a complaint. Unlike a 30-year-old, at my point in life the choice is no longer a no-brainer but an actuarial math problem to be worked through.
