Currently trialling the Aqua LinQ with Roon engine which have to say sounds breathtaking compared to my current Innuos Zenith MK3, just wondered which Roon NUC server to add. Currently tried through Zenith and direct through IMac sound sound amazing
See this guide… all depends on the size of your library.
From what I have read in addition location of the Roon NUC can also have an effect on the sound quality, has to be a quality processor along with a decent PSU.
Aqua do their testing for the LinQ using an industrial Linux based computer.
The NUC has a fan, which, in theory, can be heard. That said, I never heard in when it was located in my study. But there’s no good reason to have the NUC in your listening room unless you are connecting a DAC direct, which I don’t think you are if you’re trying the LinQ. So, you’re using Ethernet to connect Core to Bridge.
Thus, there is absolutely no benefit using a different PSU with the NUC when you’re using a network streamer. And I’ve no idea what an industrial Linux-based computer is supposed to be in this context. All you need is an NUC (or Nucleus) i3 or i7 for large libraries or heavy DSP use.
All the LinQ does is receive a stream from Roon and present it to your DAC. This is an entirely digital transaction.
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The nature of the machine LinQ uses is out of necessity. They have to run various different sets of software on the machine in addition to Roon because they decided not to pursue full Roon Ready certification. So they would need HQPlayer to run Roon and possibly other software in order to test the other modes that LinQ can run in.
If you are getting a NUC then choose on the basis of the usual criteria:
- Collection size.
- Number of endpoints.
- Amount of DSP.
I wouldn’t be worried about anything else to begin with but that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment at some point in the future when you can properly assess changes on a system you know well.
To be honest having heard the difference using my Zenith MK3 server with the LinQ which definitely sounds noticeably better I have decided to go for the Antipodes K50 one box solution which makes sense given my current system, also like the idea of not being limited to Roon .
Have done a lot of research into the various servers including Pink Faun etc and Antipodes seem to be a great choice as expressed by many users in addition to having excellent back up.