The significant difference may be number of cores. A four core processor would score higher on that sort of measure, but we are told single core performance is more important in Roon. 6248 divided by two is better than 8097 divided by four.
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NUC8i3BEH/K: i3-8109U, Geekbench Single Core 4805
iMac18.1: i3-8100, Geekbench Single Core 4786
For Roon it’s probably a wash. For general use, when several cores are used the i3-8100 will win hands down. It really should, as its TPD is significantly higher:
i3-8109U: TPD 28W
i3-8100: TPD 65W
An i3-8100 running only one core is for all practical purposes like an i3-8109U running only one core. The i3-8100 simply has three more available, whereas the i3-8109U only has one more. TPD seems to be around 15W per core.
But I agree, definitely no need to feed four cores, if only one is going to be used
Review of NUC8i5BEH/K is now up also.
My next ROCK will probably not be an 8th gen NUC.
asrock Deskmini 110 with i3-7350K (2x4.2GHz), runs ROCK
NUC8 i3-8109U: Geekbench Single Core: 4805
NUC8 i7-8559U: Geekbench Single Core: 5072
i3-7350K: Geekbench Single Core: 5662
The i3-7350K is the last i3 with two cores. i3-8350K already has four cores, lower frequency and a lower Geekbench Single Core score of 5469. Newer is not always better.
In order to beat the i3-7350K for single core performance one needs to go into 8th gen i5 or i7 territory, which will have 90Watt TPD and not fit into asrock Deskmini 110 any more.
I too am looking at NUC8i5BEH. My understanding is performance exceeds that of the NUC7i7BNH and it has less and ‘better’ noise due to changed internal cooling. It can run a lower CPU clock (2.3GHz) when highest performance is not needed. Idle power draw is less than half that of the NUC7i7BNH.
All that said, even the NUC8i3BEH might have equivalent performance to the NUC7i7BNH when used as ‘only’ a ROCK, with even (slightly) lower noise and power draw than the NUC8i5BEH.
Either costs less than the NUC7i7BNH, currently.
Other thoughts?
For those that was searching for a good deal on an 8th Gen … NewEgg is selling the i7 model for $379. That’s a really good deal.
please guys be patient with the total n00b: seriously considering replacing my Mac mini with a Cirrus7 and run just ROCK on it
question: will i7-8559U work or I’d better stick to a i7-8650U machine?
thanks 
All indications here seem to say that either processor can have more performance than is needed for ROCK to ‘work’, at a maximum level. I don’t know if there are any compatibility issues with the Cirrus7 system implementations of either CPU.
See also here:
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/support-of-intel-nuc8-bean-canyon/53454
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I have the NUC8i5 and find it excellent. Fan noise is manageable. And when upsampling to DSD512, the CPU usage indicator (in Roon) never goes below 2X. Please note that I don’t use the EQ function. Running thru the USBridge into the Holo Cyan DSD, I’m quite pleased with the results.
Bad news and good news -
OTOH - Remaining GEN8 stock shold be cheaper.