I am considering getting the Nucleus One but have a couple of concerns.
(1) I currently run the Roon Server on an HP Desktop, running Windows 11 (Intel(R) Core™ i7-10700 16.0 GB implementing Fidelizer Pro with their suggested Roon settings. I use this PC in my office system with USB out to an iFi DAC into an integrated amp. I am on this PC a lot doing other things, internet related so it is not Roon dedicated only. Also run a music streamer in another room. I have no issues currently with Roon working flawlessly to all devices always.
Would this be more of a sideways move or an upgrade?
(2) I rip CD’s regularly using dBpoweramp to a 4tb external SSD where my library is located.
Size is 31,080 tracks 2500 albums. I would use this SSD connected directly to the Nucleus One.
Will I be able to rip directly to this SSD? or if I rip to a backup drive connected to my PC where dBpoweramp resides can I then copy files over the network to the SSD that is connected to the Nucleus?
Thanks in advance and appreciate any suggestions.
In answer to your first question, I do not think the Nucleus One would be an upgrade relative to your i7-10700. The processor in the Nucleus One, whilst a lot newer, is from a product line that is not optimised for performance. Also, I believe it is only fitted with 4GByte of Ram (although that can be upgraded).
However, there are other benefits to using a dedicated and relatively low power Roon Server - be that a Nucleus One, ROCK/NUC system or even Roon Server running on a Mac Mini. For one, it is a lot cheaper to leave on 24/7.
In answer to your second question, most people recommend using dBPowerAmp (or other similar applications) on a different computer to rip CD’s. The CD ripping built into RoonOS is basic in the following respects:
You have no control over the folder structure employed which is flat with folders named using the date and time of the rip.
The track filenames are generic ‘Track01’, ‘Track02’ type names and this, together with the generic folder names, gives you no idea as to the content when browsing the file system.
The ripped tracks do not contain any metadata tags. Instead the meta data is stored directly in the Roon Database.
These issues can all be fixed by ‘exporting’ the ripped CD from Roon which will give you copies with embedded metadata and proper filenames.
Using an additional computer to rip CD’s directly to the storage attached to the Nucleus is possible but is not a particularly sensible thing to do because the ripping is slow enough that the Roon Server will start integrating the CD into its library with associated analysis before the CD is complete which can lead to CD’s being misidentified and having incomplete meta data associated with them. This can be worked around by stopping the Roon Server before the rip and restarting it after the rip.
There are a couple of alternatives:
Remove the USB storage from the Nucleus One, attach it to the computer with dBpoweramp, perform the rip of as many CD’s as you like, detach the USB drive from the computer and re-attach it to the Nucleus One. If practical, this method would likely be the fastest method.
Use dBpoweramp to rip to a local folder on the computer and then use network copy to copy/move the ripped CD to the Nucleus One external storage.
The second is the method that I use with my dedicated Roon Server (it’s not a Nucleus or Roon OS system but the same principles apply).
If your current Roon server works and performance is good, then the Nucleus won‘t be an upgrade to this. Depending on your usage, it may be convenient to have an always-on Roon server, though.
In principle yes, but it’s recommended to stop the RoonServer process while doing so. Otherwise it can cause annoying album misidentifications because the tracks appear on the storage one by one with considerable time gaps in between, so Roon can get confused about the identity of the album. It also means that you can’t listen to music while ripping.
Usually it’s better to rip to a local folder, fix up the metadata, and then copy the whole album to the Nucleus storage at once.
Many thanks to Wade_Oram and Suedkiez for those suggestions as that is exactly what I wanted to know. Since keeping my Desktop PC on most of the time is not a problem and everything is working as it should I may carry on as is for the time being.
Definitely want to continue ripping with dBpoweramp as I like to be able to edit files as needed.
If your current desktop PC is on most of the time, providing that includes all times that you might want to use Roon and providing your other uses of the desktop do not interfere with Roon, I would think that this a perfectly satisfactory solution.
By contrast, my desktop is a powerful beast which is only turned on when necessary because of the power draw - which, combineed with that of my 13 year old DELL 27in monitor which draws over 100W when active, is many times that of a Nucleus even when idle - I can tell because the combination is very effective at heating my small study - even in winter with no CH on in the room
In addition to the power consideration, the desktops main uses are raw photo and video editing both of which drive the computer very hard (I can get all 10 cores and my graphics card working at near 100% for minutes on end) and these activities could well interfere with the smooth operation of Roon.
The net result is that a NUC more or less dedicated to running my Roon Server (mine also runs Plex and a couple of other lightweight services) is a very attractive proposition for me.
My PC activities appear to have no direct impact on Roon. I am running Fidelizer Pro with the Roon recommended settings which rarely require a restart to perform some other activities but this is extremely rare. Not using any DSP on this setup currently. My music streamer in the living room re-clocks and upsamples PCM to 192Hz.
Your PC and monitor sound like a great combo for your photo and video editing despite the heat they generate however may be welcome during the cold weather you are getting this time of year.
I still haven’t decided between the Mac mini and the Nucleus. Leaning(right now) to Mac mini for a couple reasons, the main one being I can back my music up to iCloud rather than an external drive, and the other reason being I’m 15 miles from an Apple store so if I have problems I can take it in for repair.
RE: iCloud backups (not music): I back up my Nucleus One overnight to a folder on my iMac over the network, it’s set to just keep just a single back up so as not to eat up disk space.
However that folder then copies overnight via an Automator script to an iCloud watched folder. Each backup then lives on the cloud giving me a sequential daily history, rather than taking up any local disc space. TimeMachine runs weekly, so I’ll have a weekly local backup of the single local file on another drive. I’ll delete periodically as and when.
I’ve seen this stated several times in this forum, but I’ve never heard anyone actually witness this behaviour. Has this happened to you Wade_Oram? I routinely rip CDs to the watched folder in my NUC with Rock and I’ve never had a problem. I’m curious if anyone has actually had this happen.
Not exacly. I have never ripped directly to a watched folder. Even without the advice on the forum, I would not consider it good practise. It significantly adds to the things that can go wrong during the rip.
I have, in the past, had mis-identified/unidentified albums when copying many albums to the watched folder over a slow network. Whilst this was easy to fix, I prefer to avoid the issue.
I went down a similar path a few years ago (pre Nucleus One). I bought an NUC 8i7 and installed Rock. Then placed the NUC right next to my router. My library is about twice the size as yours and growing (as I suspect yours is). A few points to note:
Setting of a NUC with Rock was a breeze. Plenty of resources to guide you through the process.
All my music is on an SSD attached to the NUC but I do all my ripping and tagging on a separate Win PC with it’s own hard drive and then copy the music to the SSD on the NUC once I’m happy with it. This gives me a two copies with all my music, organized the way I want it.
Roon on my PC worked fine but would occasionally have drop outs and was prone to Windows or other app issues that would cause Roon to quit working. Once I moved to the NUC running Rock, Roon became totally stable and required little to no attention.
I also used Fidelizer on my PC but, to be honest, didn’t miss it once moving Roon to the NUC.
Bottom line, if what you’ve got works well, why change it. But if/when you do, I think the Nucleus One would work fine for you. A NUC running Rock might give you a move robust platform which could come in handy as your library grows.
Thanks mdconnelly for the first hand suggestions. This confirms what I thought about my ripping options in this scenario and probably how I will do it if I go down this road. I have my library on a 4tb SSD but also have it backed up on 3 other HDD’s. I have been using Roon for about 10 months now and never get any drop outs so feel very fortunate in that regard. Of course there are some drawbacks to this and am still interested in trying the Nucleus or an NUC at some point.
I bought a Nucleus and I must say, I find it unreliable. It can take ages to connect to my Roon Server on my PC, and if I change the source, e.g. to another playlist, it can take a long time to re-connect. I have seen no advantage in buying it. Very often, I have to abandon Roon altogether and use the Focal Naim app to play music.
That’s not normal behavior and is likely not caused by the Nucleus. You might want to post in Support and see if Roon staff can help sort out the slowness.
I decided to get a Nucleus One and am running it now and quite liking it. I already had my music library on 4 hard drives (2 SSD and 2 HDD) so opted for external storage.
My music is on a 4TB SanDisk Desk Drive connected to the Nucleus One. I do a Roon Backup to a folder on this drive then cut and paste it another drive over the Network, then copy and paste it to another storage drive so I have backups in 2 places. I use this work around as I could not add a Network Share on the Nucleus, kept getting an error as apparently others got as well. I rip CD’s on my PC (dBpoweramp) and after some effort was able to copy and paste them over the Network to the SSD connected to the Nucleus One. It is now working fo me this way.
I’ve had the same kind of problem under different circumstances.
I “record” several streaming radio programs to listen to later. For a long time I tried recording directly to a watched “Radio” directory, and a lot of the time, Roon thought the track was empty, or truncated by several minutes.
Interesting observation. I never thought of that use case and I’m pretty sure Roon never has either. Just goes to show you how difficult it is to design software that functions for everyone.
