Can someone explain why Roon recommends a separate core and player vs core direct to DAC use?

[philr]

Roon explains why here.

Sound Quality

[xxx (Banned - toxicity)]

Most of that deals with Roon running on a computer that is doing other work also.

If one is running a ROCK NUC, a Nucleus, or any other OS on a device dedicated to running Roon, then one doesn’t need to have a separate output device, IME.

[philr]

That might be your experience but the Roon article I referenced makes no mention of the computer doing anything other than Roon activities which it points out require more computing power than many other audio players.

[xxx (Banned - toxicity)]

Computing power? The Nucleus is only an i3.

No one is recommending a Celeron.

Most of that article that deals with separating source from endpoint is just suggesting the Roon Core machine be placed away from the audio equipment.

Roon’s user interface is a GPU-accelerated OpenGL masterpiece. It works your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) harder than any other audio app we’re aware of. Do you really want that GPU to do its thing right next to your audio gear?

[Bill_Janssen (Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)]

@philr

it points out require more computing power than many other audio players.

That’s right, but some of us are wondering how applicable the stated reason is. We have to remember that that text was written by a representative of a company which sells a standalone Roon Core computer unusable for running anything else.

@xxx

No one is recommending a Celeron.

Um… I’m running Core on a NAS which uses a Celeron J3455, I believe. Works well, somewhat to my surprise. The whole WiFi/Ethernet thing is a bigger factor.