[kelly200269]

Noob here. Anyone try a Roon Nucleus?
Once I unload some gear my goal is to invest in a streamer. It's hard work trying to digest all of the terminology. Learning about headphones, DACs and amplifiers was much simpler

I have a Nucleus, and it's great. It's just a great 'turn-key' way to get into Roon, without building a NUC, downloading ROCK etc.

I couldn't recommend the Nucleus more highly

 

[orpheus89]

I'm a Roon user since 2016 or so.. fantastic software that I wouldn't want to miss anywhere at home. This year I built myself a Roon ROCK server with an i7 Nuc. It's very easy and only takes about half an hour to complete. Building the database took far longer than it took me to assemble the Nuc/ROCK and it did cost quite a bit less than a Nucleus+. The only thing that bothers me is the fans of the Nuc, but Akasa builds fanless cases for the Nucs so I guess there's a solution to that.

 

[kelly200269]

The only thing that bothers me is the fans of the Nuc, but Akasa builds fanless cases for the Nucs so I guess there's a solution to that.

That's one benefit of the Nucleus. It's completely silent.

 

[orpheus89]

That's one benefit of the Nucleus. It's completely silent.

absolutely.. I might pick up one of the Akasa cases though.. Or turn off the fans in the bios settings.
I'm not sure if there's any software difference between the Nucleus+ and self-built ROCKs.. I just wish there were a Linux version of Roon Remote. but that won't ever happen. Remote was and is the only reason why I bought an iPad. haha

 

[tesarpa]

I have been reading quite a number of reports in various web places lately, all coming to the conclusion that Roon RAAT is audibly inferior to other audio transport software. For one, some people say sound quality gets improved by using Squeezelite as the output end with Roon. Others say that Music Player Daemon (MPD) simply provides one of the best sound qualities; Roon would just not talk to it at all. Another observation is that foobar2000 simply is bit-perfect all the way when set up to do so. A common problem with many reports on comparing Roon to others is that ”ceteris paribus“ is not obeyed, meaning that those people change more components (like interconnection or network types, computers, servers, cables) in their comparisons, not just Roon software versus another software.

I would like to ask folks here whether you can say ”yes“ or ”no“ to statements like ”Roon RAAT sounds inferior as compared to XYZ“. Understandably, it seems to be difficult to find concise and open discussions of this issue on the Roon Forum; maybe I didn‘t search long enough.

I tried to find differences between NAD BluOS and ROON sound quality, but found no difference. Same result with Volumio on RPi or Tidal app from Mac. Audirvana is kind of tricky, as it resamples by default, which changes the sound.

 

[kelly200269]

I'm not sure if there's any software difference between the Nucleus+ and self-built ROCKs.

Yes, there are differences in the Roon software/ROCK in the Nucleus. The software has been optimised to ensure the CPU/motherboard works optimally in a fanless enclosure, and you also get Control4 home automation functionality.

 

[orpheus89]

Yes, there are differences in the Roon software/ROCK in the Nucleus. The software has been optimised to ensure the CPU/motherboard works optimally in a fanless enclosure, and you also get Control4 home automation functionality.

Huh, thanks for letting me know. Did not know that. Do you know if there's a way to get the specific optimisations for the fanless operation? would be interesting to know in case I switch cases.

 

[kelly200269]

Do you know if there's a way to get the specific optimisations for the fanless operation? would be interesting to know in case I switch cases.

Roon have kept the changes they have made to ROCK in the Nucleus pretty secret. It runs a special version of ROCK. Makes sense to me!

 

[orpheus89]

Roon have kept the changes they have made to ROCK in the Nucleus pretty secret. It runs a special version of ROCK. Makes sense to me!

absolutely.. I totally respect that, I mean, it's their product and why should they give out the specific changes they make for it compared to the free version. Which already is a massive favour they are doing the community to build their own ROCKs..

 

[Ableza]

Noob here. Anyone try a Roon Nucleus?

There are cheaper ways to build a server, but if you want pluig and play it is not a bad solution. Compare Roon's prices to what's offered by Small Green Computer.

 

[WOPR]

Another option to maximize desk/shelf space is something like a Bluesound Node 2i or a Cambridge Audio CXN v2. The simplicity with something like these seems welcoming to me. Anyone believe there is much difference between all the various options?

 

[Ableza]

Another option to maximize desk/shelf space is something like a Bluesound Node 2i or a Cambridge Audio CXN v2. The simplicity with something like these seems welcoming to me. Anyone believe there is much difference between all the various options?

The Node and the CXN are players, not servers. Different animal than Nucleus. Nucleus is designed to be a Roon Core server hosting all your local music files. It streams TO something like a Node if you wish.

 

[WOPR]

Thank you for the clarification Ableza. If someone used a player, how would they use it to have access to their local music files?

I saw that Modwright offered upgrades to the CXN which look really interesting.

 

[audiobomber]

Noob here. Anyone try a Roon Nucleus?
Once I unload some gear my goal is to invest in a streamer. It's hard work trying to digest all of the terminology. Learning about headphones, DACs and amplifiers was much simpler

I recommend to also consider the SOtM sMS-200 Neo. My research says it sounds better than the comparable microRendu. I own a Pi 3B+, and the sMS is a rung or two above sonically. The sMS comes with a wall wart power supply which is easily upgradable. I am currently using a Zerozone 50W LPS, which only cost about $70 and provides a significant and obvious improvement in the sound.

The sMS operating system is Roon Ready. I use DLNA, streaming from my NAS, but a friend brought his Macbook with Roon over for a listening session. I changed the Neo from DLNA to Roon Endpoint in seconds and he played Tidal all evening with great results and no drama.

 

[WOPR]

The SOtM sMS-200 Neo would be the player and wired to router via an RJ45 and USB out to a DAC?