"I kinda don’t like PTP. Too complicated and requires specialized hardware."

?????

I run PTP on everything from RPI's to you name it, over fiber, ethernet, etc.

The main thing hardware gives is filtration of PTP packets or hardware timestamping.

Neither is actually required, though some software has decided to require it.

Additionally, something like 99% of sold gigabit or better chipsets since 2012 support it (I210 et al)