Following on from the two high spec 8i5s from my recent haul of Intel NUCs, this is the lowest spec - and least expensive. It is one of Roon’s supported models.
It’s a 6th generation dual core i5 which means it has a touch more processing power than the current 7i3 Nucleus, which means it makes a great Roon Core unless you want to do a lot of upsampling or have a large library.
That said when I tested it - it up sampled to DSD 256 reliably at 1.3x.
This is in the Intel case it came in, which has some scratches (you can see in the photos), and it has Intel’s fan - which is pretty quiet unless you push the machine. I cleaned out the dust from the fan before I tested it - and had it scanning my library using all the cpu for more than a day which pushed it pretty hard. For good measure I also did my upsampling test at the same time, and it all worked perfectly.
The machine comes with 16G memory on 2 chips (which is optimal for performance) and had a lightly used 500G M2 SSD (I think this was probably replaced by the guy I bought it from). The memory and SSD are both way more than you need for Rock. I’ve added a new (and probably over priced) power supply bought from Intel’s UK distributer, which is the same as the ones supplied with NUCs.
There is space in the case for a SSD or HDD for media storage - I used a 2TB HDD for my testing, and ROCK ran very well, I assume because everything performance critical is kept on the SSD. I’m happy to install a drive if you’d like one if you cover the cost.
I think this is a good NUC to run Rock if you don’t mind the fan, and want to keep costs down.
I’ll sell for £250 plus postage and the cost of an extra SSD or HDD if you want one. I’m not open to offers at the moment.
Hi Greg, I am interested in this and wish some more info please. Is it just a case of connecting it to my HiFi system by USB cable or otherwise and would the fan be quiet enough not to intrude upon the music?. Would you be able to direct me to a source of helpful info. or directions. I have Roon core running on a Samsung Galaxy notebook and use Qbuz and a Qnap for my music collection. Also sorry for questions but would I be able to transfer my music collection from the Qnap to this NUC ?.
I’ve helped a couple of people move across to a Rock - so be happy to assist.
The NUC needs a wired ethernet port to connect to your network.
It has USB ports so if you’re already connecting to your Hi Fi system by USB you can continue.
It’s possible to install an extra drive in the NUC and store your music on the internal drive (in my view this is the ideal solution). I can buy and install a drive for you at cost. I usually suggest an SSD, but this nuc has a fan and isn’t silent - so a spinning disk is also a good option. If you want to do this just let me know how much storage you need - and what sort of drive you want.
To copy from your QNAP to the ROCK you’ll need to do this over the network. Ideally the QNAP, ROCK and laptop would be physically connected to the network. It can still take a day to copy if you have a lot of music.
Ideally you’ll keep a copy of your music elsewhere - it isn’t easy to backup the media content on the ROCK.
This NUC is pretty quiet, but not silent (it does have a fan). I have a couple more for sale in fanless cases (including a 7i5 that I’m just testing). It depends on where you put the NUC and how fussy you are whether this matters. I expect it will be quieter then your laptop.
Let me know if you need any more info.
I’m away on vacation for a couple of weeks - so happy to answer questions - but can’t ship until I’m back.
BTW ROCK on a NUC is a fantastic, effortless way to run roon. I tried it as an experiment and am completely convinced!
Should have included Roon’s transferring instructions.
I found it’s best to do as they say, then shutdown the Roon core and copy across all your music files.
Then restart Roon, and point ROCK to the new file location. It will go crazy and rescan all the files - but you get to keep all your playlists, dates etc.
sounds good- I have, when listening, my laptop in the room attached to the HiFi by USB and do not find any obtrusive noise so that would be ok. As far as a hard disc is concerned I have 500 ish albums on the Qnap but am not sure about advantage of having them on the core disc. Anyway when you get back from holiday please let me have the cost of the discs etc.
