Can anyone advise on a cheap standalone Roon server option? I’m thinking either a NUC or a mini pc but open to whatever suggestions people think is best.
I am not an intensive user. Have around 30Gb of music (3000 albums) and don’t intend to add massively to it. Only have one end point pair of speakers and I don’t use the dsp type functions.
Ideally I’d like to spend as little as possible and have something I just connect via ethernet to my router and leave running 24/7 without a monitor.
2 streamers as endpoints and when needed 2 laptops as well. Serves my iPhone at work through Roon ARC. I am only using volume leveling on both streamers to get a consistent sound volume.
Running Roon Server on Linux using an external SSD. While the internal 1 tb hard drive holds my local music collection. I have it connected to my TV in the living room and using a wireless keyboard and mouse. So once every 2 weeks or so I run updates for Linux and then give the computer a fresh reboot.
I’ve never tried Rock as Roon Server with Linux (and in the past macOS) runs perfectly fine here.
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Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
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I got a free Windows PC (old but usable) from a neighbor by asking on Nextdoor. Put Linux on it. Worked fine as a Roon server.
Lot of people have old computers lying around taking up space. Just ask.
That is a choice best made by the person who will be the custodian of the server. Folks with a NAS like that route. Folks familiar with MACs do the same. I didn’t have experience with either of those and went the NUC/Rock route.
My preference is to have all the updates coming from Roon and not be concerned with anything else. NUCs and components are more costly now but mine cost around 1 thousand for an I7, memory, m.2 drive for Roon os and database, a second sata drive for the library and a usb attached ssd for backups.
Used NuC or other with new drive is probably a good idea. A lot of those “mini pcs” have one or more weird hardware things that require some obscure driver to make work.
If you get something supported by ROCK, and I personally suggest you do if you’re goal is to just set and forget, then run ROCK. But, don’t dive too far into tinkering just to get ROCK running.
Another suggestion… is it time to upgrade any of your existing machines? You might spend some money to get yourself a nice new machine but you get a “free” Roon Server when you retire your existing machine.
yes this is something Ive been pondering. One of those situations where my work machine is good but can’t use that for Roon and personal machines are getting a bit old but still doing ok for most uses. So…thinking through options.
Nobody to date seems to have commented on the mini PC that the OP found on amazon.
The Intel N100 is a 12th gen 4-core processor with a turbo speed of 3.4GHz supporting up to 16GByte of memory - which sounds OK (but not exiting) but I have a few reservations:
I can’t easily find the base frequency for this processor - I believe that it may be very low (around 1GHz) because the processor has a TDP of 6W - which is itself very low.
I believe the N100 has a simplified memory cache architecture which will degrade performance.
Only one memory channel is supported meaning that the processor has only half of the maximum memory bandwidth of a similarly clocked i3 processor.
It’s not on the supported device list for ROCK.
Consequently, I suspect that the OP could make it work (since he says he only has one endpoint and does not use DSP functionality) but he may have to use a more standard linux distribution and I would not expect it to give the most spritely UI experience.
I think, with a local library of 3000 albums, I might be inclined to see if I could find a NUC i5. Something like NUC11PAHi5 on Amazon. As has been pointed out above, A second hand NUC may also be a possibility.
I’ve done the same thing. My Mac Mini has been in storage for years. After being replaced first by a MacBook Air and later a combination of MacBook Pro and Windows laptop.
I’ve used my 2017 MacBook Air first as a Roon Server. It worked. But having a small little desktop computer sticking underneath my TV on top of my audio cabinet in the living room made more sense. All the USB ports are on the back and Ethernet connectivity as well. To get Ethernet on my MacBook Air I actually had to use a USB Ethernet adapter.
The Mini is dead silent. It does have a fan, but it doesn’t need it.
Good luck finding the solution that will work for you.
I run my Roon ROCK on an old Lenovo x220 (i5). It works absolutely flawlessly. I just bought a 2tb internal SSD for the music to be stored on.
Cost me £60 maybe to setup.
I had the laptop already, but you can get old i5 Lenovo x220, x230, x240 etc. for super super cheap on eBay.
Mine sits almost silently in a hidden corner and does its job perfectly. It has been running for about a year now, streams Roon ARC etc. without a hitch
Currently switched to a cheap Geekom mini it11, 11
Series i7 processor, m2 ssd and 16gb ram for £349. Runs Roon fantastically well and way faster than the series 7 i7 I was using and doesn’t break a sweat upsampling . It comes with windows 11 which I deleted and installed Dietpi instead. Didn’t try rock this time as wanted more visibility of what it’s doing and run Plex as well.
Your mini PC concerns are overblown. And the official NUC pushing common around here goes overboard.
I have both NUC8i3BEH and NUC8i7BEH on hand. Both with 16 GB RAM. Both are among the best NUCs to run ROCK.
But more often than not, I run ROCK with a 6000 album library on this less than $200 MeLE fanless PC with 8 GB RAM. All I did was supply my own M.2 NVMe boot drive. It works well.
It’s going to come down to your budget. You could spend as little as £50 ($80), or as much as £500 ($560).
Depending on where you are in the world. There is usually computer recycling centres, or charity shops that sell half decent machines. I went down the second hand unit from a charity. Dell Optiplex, I then moved to a NUC (as it was a lot smaller). Found plenty of used ones on eBay. Spent £260 on a NUC10i7 and that came with 32GB ram, x2 1TB drives. I’m obviously talking about ROCK installations here, but nothing stops you from using Windows/Linux.
I guess my main point here is; you don’t need to spend big money. Equally, you don’t need to spend too little money and get something crap. You also don’t need to buy new and spend loads of money. My setup new would’ve cost well over $500, if new.
Hi there I am using an Intel nuc i3 it works perfectly. You can purchase a 2nd hand one on eBay with Rock already installed & ready to go for around £185.00
