Trying to take advantage of the Black Friday price drops on NUC’s and move away from my PC to a dedicated ROCK server. I’ve got my eyes on the NUC7i5BNH.
The ROCK support page says: “We recommend using the onboard ethernet, but support for some USB ethernet and WiFi adapters are included.“
So I wonder if any Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapters are supported too? I ask this because I would like to create a direct “bridged” connection to my dCS Network Bridge, meaning to connect the NUC to the NB with a single Ethernet cable using the NUC’s LAN input, and provide internet access to the NUC and the NB via the thunderbolt 3 to ethernet adapter. This would be done through bridging these two connections.
So is this possible at all? I have no experience whatsoever with Linux operating systems and have no clue whether such “bridging” would work or not. It worked for me under Windows with some sonic benefits (when I had the SOtM sMS-200) as opposed to going through a switch.
Thank you very much, exactly what I needed to hear.
So if I go for a USB to ethernet adapter then, which ones are specifically supported by Roon? And are there any instructions on how to setup the bridged connection under ROCK?
“Bridging” in the traditional sense of the term implies putting a device (the “bridge” device) between two dissimilar physical network segments in order for them to communicate together. Switches typically fulfill this role nowadays, since nearly everything in a LAN environment is either fibre or twisted-pair Ethernet, and Ethernet switches can be purchased that provide connections to both in a single unit.
Unless you’re trying to achieve network-layer segregation, placing the onboard Ethernet interface on one IP subnet and the USB-to-Ethernet adapter on another, with ROCK providing IP routing between the two, I think you’re better served by simply plugging everything into a switch.
Well, under Windows it’s called “network bridge”. However we call it, the NUC/ROCK would basically be the “switch” in such configuration, obtaining access to the internet through the USB-ethernet adapter and sharing it with the Roon endpoint via a single ethernet cable, without any devices in between.
When I initially tried this connection type back in May or June, it was a clear step up in sound quality compared to the traditional setup that involved a switch inbetween the Roon Core and the Roon endpoint. This is a well document tweak that many users have tried and enjoyed. I still don’t know what the scientific ratio behind it is, nor can I provide any measurements that would support it. It simply sounded better.
Adding a good reclocking switch in between the Core and the Endpoint (like the upcoming SOtM switch with their ultra lose noise clock board inside) would probably be better still, though we have to wait for it to come out.
With respect, such devices (the likes of which have never been seen until audiophiles discovered the world of digital communications) have been invented to solve problems that don’t exist outside the minds of a subset of people that believe an entire set of communication protocols and standards that hundreds of millions rely on every day are fraught with unmeasurable problems never before detected until they were used to transfer PCM data.
Save your money (and dignity) and buy a switch from BestBuy or Amazon.
You can not. ROCK supports IP forwarding between interfaces, but not interface-bridging. My guess is you want some type of isolation from this setup, in which case IP forwarding gives you the best isolation since it prevents LAN local traffic from crossing over to the second interface.
I am interested in building a similar configuration using a USB to Ethernet connection. Does Roon offer any procedural advice on this? It would be greatly appreciated for the novice crowd.
Add a second network device, like a USB ethernet and configure it to have a static IP. Then set up your endpoint with another static IP on the same subnet range, and connect them with an ethernet cable.
@danny…thanks. Can’t pretend to know how to do that but Google is my friend. The ROCK is a rockstar but to a network novice it remains a challenge. Cheers