With the native support of M1 apple CPUs in the pipeline are we getting a M1 ROCK version that will run on a Mac mini?
I’m waiting for the M2 Mac Minis to become available (more performance for HQ player upsampling). Would be nice to have a Mac Rock as option:-)
And I’m wondering if Roon could offer some of the upsampling filters that HQ player has?
M1 support by Linux ecosystems is still in very early stages, let alone for ROCK, which doesn’t even run on anything but NUC (and not even the most recent ones). Let’s be realistic here 
You couldn’t run HQPlayer on the same system if they did bring this to the Mac. Roon rock only runs roon and that’s it. It would be a waste of a Mac mini to install roon rock if it was available.
Oh ok thanks. Didn’t know that HQ player can’t be integrated.
Why would it be a waste ? I’m currently running the Roon on a M1 Mac Mini and upsampling to DSD512 and pcm 768khz. Works fine for only one zone. But I imagine for 2 zones it might be already a bit much.
Processing speed goes down to 3.5x
If so, that would come with Roon OS 2.0 which is something completely different.
You mean have Roon spend time creating those filters, or, do you mean license them from HQPlayer?
Licensing the filters would be a option 
At a additional fee maybe?
You’re probably in better shape than you think.
The 3.5x is now much overcapacity Roon has for processing that endpoint. Most processing runs on a single core, with the exception of the DSD upsamping that can run on two.
So with 8 cores you should be able to run 4 zones with that type of load.
Just assume for the money better to get an intel nuc that just runs roon rock. If you do setup roon rock you can still use HQPlayer, but it needs to be installed on a separate machine. That’s the one you’d want with all the power to run the power hungry filters. And to complete the picture, a separate endpoint running NAA.
I had that setup at one point and found it a pain if something went wrong since too many parts in the chain to figure out the issue. Was nice when it worked and sound quality amazing.
Is this topic for real? Lol. Why would you waste money on an m1 Mac for ROCK when you can just buy an off the shelf proper official rock device for basically the same price directly from the roon store.
What a confusing request.
The M1 Mac mini is more powerful than the higher end Nucleus and costs less than the low end Nucleus. The M1 Mac mini is a much more flexible device than either Nucleus.
This is not not at all a crazy question.
Alas, the only way to run a Roon server on an M1 Mac mini is to use macOS.
which works perfectly well and is fast
I’m running a Mac Mini M1 with both HQPlayer and Roon with one NAA with ASIO for DAC-60 DSD256 in an Accuphase and also a Roon endpoint Ifi Zen Streamer with a ifi Neo DSD256.
I’m able to use most of demanding filters at DSD256 like poly-syncs family and 7ECv2. Can do also DSD512 with DSDv2.
I run an M1 Mac mini with HQPlayer as well. It’s great.
For some people it would also be great if they could run Rock on an M1 Mac mini . Though I never would because of Rock’s lack of flexibility.
Yes, Mac Mini can also rip your cds 
to enrich your digital library 
. Plus use as printer 
server 
The nucleus is a waste of money considering what hardware is in there…
Cheapest nucleus is 1649 euros. For a i3 cpu and 4gb ram. For that money I get 2 Mac mini with enough money leftover to buy a external SSD or something else.
(I could get one to Run Roon / Rock + another one for HQ Player )
Nothing is stopping anyone from buying a Mac mini (or two).
This is just Apple being restrictive on what can be run on their hardware. Roon can only operate within the playing field that Apple sets out on their hardware.
All in all, I don’t think that anyone running a core on Mac is negatively affected by Roon in any way. The same can be set for people running ROCK on a NUC, or Roon on Windows for that matter.
I think it’s great people have options.
That’s what I said…
Why not ger an intel nuc for roon rock and Mac mini for HQPlayer. The intel nuc doesn’t even need that much power since you’re be sending original signal over to the Mac mini for HQPlayer processing. You’d also be able to use Mac mini for other things when not listening to music.
I’m not that technical but I was able to follow the step by step instructions to setup roon rock within 30 min. Once setup it runs headless. You never have to hook a monitor back up to it after initial setup. Think whole kit cost me around $400. And I have it directly connected to the router in a closet so don’t hear it either even though quiet most of the time.
There is no support yet for the new generation of Nucs
