Hi Kevin, I have a perfectly capable Synology RS3617xs with 32GB of RAM and 12 spinning disks in a RAID10 arrray. Attached to it is an RX1217 expansion unit with hot spares for the NAS, plus SSDs for the Music library and Roon database (could have gone with HDDs, but SSDs run cooler and quieter, eventually the NAS will be all SSDs. HDDs are hot and noisy!). The Music library and database also back up to the main NAS array and off site. The NAS has a 20Gb LACP fibre backbone to the main network switch which in turn connects to all of our music devices, TVs for Plex streaming and our IP security cameras which record onto the NAS. Not your usual NAS Vs NUC comparison, I’ll admit.
I originally started with the NAS when I was a working photographer. I wanted something big and fast to store and shift around huge quantities of high resolution RAW digital files and fully manage offsite backup via Backblaze B2. Obviously, my needs have changed with time and my setup has evolved somewhat since then.
With the NAS, everything is in one place and it’s easy. With a NUC, I’d need to figure out where to put it, set up additional shares to the music library, manage an additional backup route for the database in the NUC and also have another computer running 24/7.
Synology’s DSM7 may have thrown an enormous spanner in the works as far as Roon is concerned, but I’ll wait and see what the final build looks like and what Christopher Rieke can come up with in the way of workarounds for Synology’s Draconian hobbling of third party app functionality.