I’ve been using Roon and Qobuz on a 2019 MacBook Pro for some time and apart from a few dropouts on an occasional basis everything has worked fine. I’ve recently added HQPlayer to the MacBook so that I can upsample and also use convolution filters for my headphones. I’ve just purchased a Nucleus.
Clearly the Roon Core will now be on the Nucleus and if I wasn’t using HQP I’m assuming I’d connect the Nucleus to my DAC using one of the USB connections. However I’ll still be running HQP on the MacBook and am unsure what the connections should be I.e. does the Nucleus connect to the DAC or do I connect the MacBook to the DAC and to the Nucleus.
I have no idea what the actual flow of the data is as it arrives from Qobuz via my router and into the ………what?
Hi there from a fellow user, but not a HQPlayer one at that…
Streaming services’, as well as NAS’s or local media are always routed/processed through your core device first, then sent on to end points, may they be networked or local USB/HDMI/Analog-out from the core.
I’m pretty sure, you’d either need one networked device running HQP that’s connected to your DAC via USB, or one networked device running HQP and another running Signalyst’s NAA that’s connected to your DAC via USB.
Hi Neil, I’ve moved your post to the HQP category maybe better answers will come from there.
I think you are going to connect Nucleus to the HQP (Ip of your MB) after that Roon is just seeng HQP as endpoint and all the connections are edited on HQP, so the simplest is to connect DAC to MB that runs HQP. I do not know if you can Output from HQP back to Nucleus (I do output from HQP on my mini to a ubuntu NAA)
… that seems very unlikely to me!
Thank you both for the quick responses.
So it looks like USB out from the Nucleus to the MacBook and then USB out from the MacBook to my Holo May DAC……
That certainly makes sense to me.
I have an SSD arriving Monday that I’ll install in the Nucleus. I’ll set everything up once I’ve done the install.
I’ll post again next week if I have any further questions.
Thanks again.
Neil.
The path is:
Streaming service (Qobuz or other) → network → Roon Core (Nucleus) → network → HQPlayer → usb → dac
@Stefano_Antonelli answer is perfect.
almost all ok. But Nucleus not USB to MB. Nucleus and MB on network.
Have Fun
Nope. It will be wired ethernet from the Nucleus to the MacBook, then USB to the Holo. Once Roon has turned the audio file over to HQPlayer, HQPlayer is then responsible for getting it to the DAC.
Personally, I found over the years that it all works better keeping everything (Roon Core and HQPlayer) on one PC rather than introducing an extra network hop as a point of failure.
Isn’t the Nucleus (max i7 old generation, maybe 7th) too “weak” to run HQPlayer and Roon Core?
It can’t run both as the nucleus os a locked down os and you can’t load any other software. I don’t use a nucleus.
Rugby,
How do I do an Ethernet connection from the Nucleus to the MacBook Pro please?
The Nucleus only has one Ethernet port and that is being used to connect directly to the router.
Also, my MacBook Pro has 4 USB C ports, it does not have an Ethernet port.
I am now royally confused lol 
USB->Ethernet adapter
If you have more than 1 port on the router you can connect both Nucleus and MB to the router (the MB with a usb to Ethernet dongle). Or you can buy a switch (unmanaged). You connect the switch to router, Nucleus to Switch and MB to switch.
Likely Roon → HQPlayer will work fine over WiFi too. But it depends on your wireless environment. But WiFi6 (802.11ax) is very capable. And on very latest macOS update Apple finally fixed a bug in MacBook Pro M1 (maybe some other M1/M2 devices too) where the WiFi lags really badly. Now the lag is finally gone.
Just Roon and HQPlayer on the same network, completely wired, completely wireless, or either one wired/wireless. Should work. Or if having USB connected to the Mac running HQPlayer is limiting/cumbersome, then adding a NAA later is an option to keep the audio output on network as well.
I actually wonder if Roon ROCK / Nucleus could actually contain NAA endpoint software. Technically it should be really easy and would allow audio to come back to the same box…