I wasn't considering Roon because of the 700-usd insane price tag, but then I found out they charge 100 usd per year, which was more reasonable. I'm currently using their trial and the software is way superior to others, so I'm definitely getting it at least for a year. Concerning MA lineup, I couldn't really understand the difference between the mini pro and their element series, some even haven older chips, but I learnt that we should only look at the chip, but rather the "implementation" (whatever that means). What would be the benefit of adding a Raspberry to my setup, ethernet? Frankly, I have may computer 1 meter apart from my DAC/amp, that's why I use USB.
Taking a look from a more distant perspective, it does look like I'm looking for a way to justify spending money on some upgrade or sidegrade I don't really need, haha. Maybe I should wait for whatever comes next in some months/years.