Where to run my Roon Core

[Psilonaught]

I’ve seen less cabling in a cannabis factory

That's the quote of the day 😄

 

[chris]

I don't run Roon because it doesn't sound very good, so run Audirvana Studio.

Is this a myth or a fact?

I have tried Audirvana studio and Roon and couldn’t tell any difference. Is it a limitation of my equipment or my ears or more to do with the way Roon is implemented?

Roon is a much better user experience but maybe I am missing out on sound quality

 

[mikeyb]

Nucleus ?

Just buy a used Intel Nuc for £200 do the same job, Nucleus is waaaaaaaay over priced

£199
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295384972316?epid=9006833355&hash=item44c650fc1c:g:W8IAAOSwwXhjR-53 and yes that chip is on the official Roon support list, also inludes 16gb RAM and 1tb SSD drive.

$1459 and up
https://store.roonlabs.com/products/nucleus/

an extra $400 for 2tb drive - they're having a laff, less than £90 in UK for one, $800 extra for the 4tb version, UK 4tb SSD for £260.

Ran fine on my used HP SFFPC and it cost me £125

Talk about gouging, Roon is up there with the best, sorry worst of them

 

[Steveh]

Anybody got more wires than that ???

If we refer to them as cables we can have a debate about them.....😂

 

[JamieMcC]

Let’s not forget that the nucleus runs a special optimised version of Roon, compared to a DIY ROCK installation. What practical advantages/effetcts that has on your Roon experience is another matter.

Imo these rumors of better sound quality or secret sauce in the Nucleus compared to the Rock version are just dealers trying to justify the price of the Nucleus.


Quote from Roon engineering in the differences between is there is no difference in sound quality.

From Brian Luczkiewicz
Roon Labs: CTO (Chief technical officer)


"This is true. The version that runs on Nucleus is customized for Nucleus, just like the version of RoonOS that runs on Merging’s NADAC PLAYER is customized for that hardware and ROCK is customized for suitability with a range of available NUC platforms. Those are the three RoonOS builds out in the world right now.

Some of the stuff that is different–the Nucleus Roon OS build has some thermal management stuff to account for it being fanless. It removes some audio devices in Settings->Audio so that ports not exposed on the hardware (like the analog outputs on the NUC inside) aren’t listed. It also identifies itself as a Nucleus, shows Nucleus branding on the configuration screens, etc.

The above is pretty basic stuff, mostly focused on branding, hardware differences that must be accounted for, and delivering a polished product. The implication above is that there is some extra secret sauce for sound quality in the Nucleus’s RoonOS build, but not in the other builds…and that’s not true. If things sound different, it’s probably because of some other difference."

 

[Fullrange]

Does it really matter if it sounds the same / different / better.
If you want it, buy it.

 

[Psilonaught]

Is this a myth or a fact?

I have tried Audirvana studio and Roon and couldn’t tell any difference. Is it a limitation of my equipment or my ears or more to do with the way Roon is implemented?

Roon is a much better user experience but maybe I am missing out on sound quality

To my ears Roon sounds rolled off when compared to any UPNP source I've tried, and Audirvana is the best UPNP.

Now Aqua tell me (because I've directly asked) that their Roon implementation via their HQP modules sounds a tiny bit better than their UPNP version, but that's using HQP in a highly optimised Roon install all inside the Aqua LinQ with NO external Nucleus being used.

 

[DomT]

Thanks I guess I 'm approaching this from the giving the source a chance so want to optimise that before I settle on a digital front end .

Would it not be much simpler to buy an Innuos streamer as the interface is similar to Roon, according to some Room has SQ issues, and there is no faff at all.

 

[Cable Monkey]

Let’s not forget that the nucleus runs a special optimised version of Roon, compared to a DIY ROCK installation. What practical advantages/effetcts that has on your Roon experience is another matter.

There are no optimisations as such. The only change is that they’ve throttled the i7 (+) so it can exist in a passively cooled environment and it has some home automation gubbins built in. It’s advantage is it is only written for Nucleus rev A and B internals while ROCK has to cover a much wider range of hardware.

Now Aqua tell me (because I've directly asked) that their Roon implementation via their HQP modules sounds a tiny bit better than their UPNP version, but that's using HQP in a highly optimised Roon install all inside the Aqua LinQ with NO external Nucleus being used.

Have Aqua told you why they don’t have formal Roon certification? Why they have ended up jumping through hoops with third party pay software in order to get an already expensive Roon on their platform?

 

[stormyuklondon1]

Mrs Stormy has got me a lifetime subscription for Roon for Christmas, so I purchased a NUC in anticipation. Just set it up to test, very simple to be honest and I’m not the brightest spark when it comes to ‘Pooters. 1 hour from opening the boxes, fitting the HDD and RAM, downloading and installing the OS, to playing it through my system.
£370 for the NUC11TNH3i, 8gb ram & 256gb HDD, not too bad I thought.
now packed away for the next 16 sleeps..

 

[George 47]

Ah but it will be well worth it. Great Sound Quality, ordered music, consistent and just so easy to use and set-up. I bought a used i5 NUC from the guy on e-bay (local) and I just connected the PSU and an ethernet cable.

 

[DomT]

Ah but it will be well worth it. Great Sound Quality, ordered music, consistent and just so easy to use and set-up. I bought a used i5 NUC from the guy on e-bay (local) and I just connected the PSU and an ethernet cable.

Just like an Innuos. Really wondering what all the fuss is about with Roon when you have to pay to use it and typically also have to buy hardware when Innuos appears to deliver most/all of what Roon delivers depending on your criteria (in my case I have no interest in reviews) But it does seem a good solution for hifi dealers with multiple systems.

 

[JamieMcC]

Personally I find the album and artist info on Roon interesting and a good source of related listening material to explore.

 

[bencat]

Something like this do you mean .

 

[dhansak]

Just like an Innuos. Really wondering what all the fuss is about with Roon when you have to pay to use it and typically also have to buy hardware when Innuos appears to deliver most/all of what Roon delivers depending on your criteria (in my case I have no interest in reviews) But it does seem a good solution for hifi dealers with multiple systems.

I love the content in roon and find discovery is better than any alternatives I’ve tried.

Having been away for a year and recently returning to roon, I find more new music and listen more when I use it.

 

[Knipester]

I use a nuc i7 as my core, it’s away in a cupboard so the fan noise isn’t a problem. I will at some point install a fabless case

 

[JamieMcC]

Something like this do you mean .

Looks like a great feature

 

[bencat]

Looks like a great feature

Yes and it's free .

 

[Cable Monkey]

Yes and it's free .

Is it free? Or do they ask nicely for a donation because nothing is actually without cost!

 

[Tristan]

I use a 2012 i7 MacMini. Cost me a ton and works perfectly. I run it headless and if I ever need to do anything with it, I just connect to it via my M1 MacBook Pro using the screen sharing feature.