Or, given that the OP has already got Muon in his system, then save the pennies and go for broke on buying the
Tempus with integral hybrid power supply to replace his Netgear.
Yes, OP has apparently drank the Digital Noise Cool Aid and no longer believes that Bit Perfect is all you can do. Now consider what David Snyder has to say over at the Roon forum:
The Roon Paradox: A Powerful Experience with a Sonic Caveat
Roon is celebrated, almost universally, as the most powerful and engaging music management system available. Its rich metadata and seamless user experience are second to none. However, this functional supremacy has long been dogged by a persistent critique from a vocal segment of the audiophile community: that Roon’s sound quality can be compromised, often described as “flat, dull, and lifeless” compared to other players.
This “Roon Sound” isn’t a myth, nor is it a flaw in Roon’s bit-perfect software. It is a potential symptom of Roon’s powerful and resource-intensive nature. Roon’s “heavyweight” Core requires significant processing power, which in turn generates electrical noise (RFI/EMI). When the computer running the Roon Core is in close proximity to your sensitive Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), this noise can contaminate the analog output stage, masking detail, shrinking the soundstage, and robbing the music of its vitality.
Moving Beyond “Band-Aids” to a Foundational Solution
Roon Labs itself advocates for a “two-box” architecture to solve this primary issue: separating the demanding Roon Core from a lightweight network Endpoint (also called a streaming transport). This is the correct first step, as it offloads the heavy processing to a remote machine, isolating its noise from your audio rack.
However, even in this superior two-tier design, a more subtle problem remains. Standard network protocols, including Roon’s own RAAT, deliver audio data in intermittent “bursts”. This forces the endpoint’s CPU to constantly spike its activity to process these bursts, causing rapid fluctuations in current draw. These fluctuations generate their own low-frequency electrical noise right at the endpoint—the component closest to your DAC.
High-end audio manufacturers attempt to combat the symptoms of this bursty traffic with various “Band-Aid” solutions: massive linear power supplies to better handle the current spikes, ultra-low-power CPUs to minimize the spikes’ intensity, and extra filtering stages to clean up the resulting noise. While these strategies can help, they don’t address the root cause of the noise: the bursty processing itself.
Audiolinux: This is a purpose-built, real-time operating system designed specifically for audiophile use. Unlike a general-purpose OS, it’s optimized to minimize processor latencies and system “jitter,” providing a stable, low-noise foundation for our endpoint.
Diretta: This groundbreaking protocol is the secret sauce that solves the root problem. It recognizes that fluctuations in the endpoint’s processing load generate low-frequency electrical noise that can evade a DAC’s internal filtering (as defined by its Power Supply Rejection Ratio, or PSRR) and subtly degrade its analog performance. To combat this, Diretta employs its “Host-Target” model, where the Host sends data in a continuous, synchronized stream of small, evenly spaced packets. This “averages” the processing load on the Target device, stabilizing its current draw and minimizing the generation of this pernicious electrical noise.
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