I work from home, so when at my office setup I am on the same network; however I do not currently have an ethernet connection in the office (a factor I did not think about). So the core would be in the living room connected to the router and then I would be using an endpoint in the office.
Thanks everyone for the quick replies and suggestions.
To recap: I am looking for a dedicated always on CORE tucked away and connected to my router. The majority of my listening occurs in my office and is on the same network as my CORE. However, at this time I do not have an ethernet connection in that room and am renting (so canât go drilling holes). I do not have a $45k system nor probably the ears to discern that fidelity, but I do have a dedicated external DAC (schitt bifrost2) and external headphone AMP. My library is only around 50,000 tracks.
The choices thus far are as follows:
Server/CORE:
- pre-built music server (i.e. SonicTransport) $1,000
- NUC10i5 + Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz + Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 250GB - $ 530
- Used NUC10i7 + Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz + Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 250GB - $ 520
- New NUC10i7 + Crucial RAM 16GB DDR4 3200MHz + Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 250GB - $704
I was leaning towards option 2, because NUC10i5âs specs seemed to match most closely the NUC7i7DN that is used for nucleus plus, but am wondering at what point the extra cost of i7 is actually needed. Is buying used a bad idea? I feel these units are old as is at this point so hard to tell how much use they got or if they were also running in a 24/7 environment.
All of the above would then require either an already owned external hard drive ($0) or a 2TB ($190) or 4TB for future proof ($399).
ENDPOINT/STREAMER:
- Pre-existing iPhone
- Pre-built streamer (i.e. Sonore ultraRendu $1,000 or BlueSound Node $600)
- RPi/DigiOne ~ $300?
Regardless of the choices above, how does one gain hardwired network access in an additional location in a house (i.e. office) if running cables is not an option? I have significant coverage via WIFI in the listening position meaning I am only about 30 feet from the router where the core would be connected, but is that where mesh units come into play or? From my understanding mesh systems are connected via wifi as is and just let you expand your wifi reach?
Another aspect I left out is that I also stream music via Nugs.net app currently. Since I didnât factor in adding a streamer component initially, are there streamers that allow you to install/utilize various music apps outside Roon/Qobuz?
Thanks everyone for the support
Endpoint should be fine on wi-fi as long as core is wired to the internet and your router.
As an endpoint alternative, you could get a cheap Windows or barebones pc from amazon and install roon bridge.
Great, youâve come a long way.
Option 2 is totally fine, 3 will be slightly snappier. You may enjoy tinkering, you may not. $500 difference is a lot to pay for not tinkering. You choose. Wiring that into your core will be a good thing.
Again, I suggest tinkering if youâre up for it and building one for yourself, itâll take up an afternoon if youâve ever burnt a flash card or touched unix (frankly, I found it slightly easier than setting up my ROCK, not to put you off that, that just required more BIOS mucking about than I was used to and it got done). If not, spend the extra coin on the BlueSound. Iâm not familiar with Nugs.net, but it does look like the BlueSound node supports it, as well as spotify, tidal, qobuz directly. So maybe thatâs your best bet.
If you have decent coverage, WiFi into a Ropieee or BlueSound should be fine, and if itâs not you can evaluate your choices of adding mesh or running a cable.
Good luck!
Cheers, any reason to stray away from option 3 due to it being used? Or not really?
I run a used NUC 7i5 as my second home ROCK that I bought off someone here. Works perfectly fine. Itâs a computer. You donât have a warantee, but Iâve never used a warantee other than AppleCare. These machines are designed to stay on and just stay running (thermal management, etc). If it works when you get it, itâll probably still work fine in 3 years. But thatâs just the same as any computer purchase - if you wouldnât do it in another context, donât do it here. But thatâs personal preference.
I have had good success with Powerline Extenders like the following: https://www.amazon.com/Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter-Extender-TP-Link/dp/B084CZMYNM/ref=psdc_172504_t1_B00AWRUICG
Only reason I quit using them was my turntable was picking up static from the units. If you donât have a sensitive turntable/cartridge it shouldnât be a problem.
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Just a quick note that Mac Mini is not silent. It has a fan. Anything with a fan is not, technically, silent. When you start treating your room and dropping the noise floor down to âstudioâ levels youâll hear the fan. There are a bunch of NuC-like cases or custom industrial style NuC cases that provide for proper passive cooling with no fans. Those are truly silent.
But, like Nucleus (which also uses passive cooling / no fan), the cost of these cases a little more than active cooling alternative.
Apple publishes spl levels for their hardware for a few years now.
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You are right, I bought it thinking that the fan would be off if the load was low enough, but looking at a software to measure fan speed it always spins. For where it is now, it is not audible for me, I cannot hear any noise not even getting very close to it, but I agree that is not 0 dB.
NUC with passive cooling with Linux was an option, not Rock as I want to do something else with it, but at the end I went for Mac.
About end points, I have a Raspberry Pi4 (with passive cooling) running DietPi and Roon Bridge. Again, not Roopie as I wanted to use it for something more than just Roon endpoint. It works great!
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If I only stream music through Qobuz on Roon, should I invest in a Roon rock? Is it going to improve sound quality and stability?
If so, i3 nuc is definitely enough for me right?
Stability - yes, SQ - no.
Depends on how big your library is, whether you are going to do any heavy DSP, and how many endpoints to you want to play to simultaneously. The actual music source is not the biggest consideration.
I donât have any flac files or anything, I only stream music from Qobuz. I only use one endpoint, and I occasionally use some eq.
If you add albums or tracks from Qobuz to your library, then these count towards the size of your library. A Core i3 is sufficient for up to 100,000 Qobuz tracks with one endpoint and moderate DSP usage.
I have about 23,000 tracks, split 30/70 between local and Qobuz. Two endpoints, but only one at a time. My main system runs bit perfect, but I upsample to 705/768 on the headphone system.
I run ROCK on an i3. You should be GTG.
Definitely only have 3427 tracksâŚ
Only listen to classical music, and still working on expanding library.
What do you listen to? 23,000 tracks seem like a lot.
And why do you upsample? Does that make an improvement in sound? Cuz Iâve heard that it is actually not good for the signal.
Mostly jazz, some classical. 23,000 tracks is nothing, really. Youâll see. 
I upsample to my headphones for a little more res, and for superstitionsâ sake.
There are plenty who would disagree with you, but Iâm not going there, today.
It really depends on the DAC and your ability to hear changes in filters. Some DACs itâs marvelous. Some DACs its terrible. Also DACs that let you set a filter, those filters may do slightly different things when presented with different bit rates so even the same DAC using a different setting can be a good / bad evaluation against upsampling. Then there is the whole debate over 2x vs. jumping base clocks.
Itâs not as easy as ânot goodâ or âgoodâ. Try on your own system and use what you prefer is the only right answer.
Can my MacBook air M1 handle dsp on Roon tho?
I want to give upsampling a try
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