Hardware for Linux Roon Server

Roon Software Discussion Linux
1

Hi Guys,

I’ve been testing Roon and currently using my Macbook air, but I would like to run the Roon server on a cheap linux box headless and playing music via my raspberrypi end points.

I have an old duel core intel based CAPS machine running squeezebox server from several years back, but it’s not 64bit so won’t let me install the Roon server.

So my question is do I really need i3/i5 just to run the Roon sever? as it seems like overkill, I know the Roon hardware requirements say I do, but surely its possible to lesser hardware? I have a relatively small library of around 12000 tracks which currently sit on the SSD connected directly to the above sequeezebox server which running very happily.

I was hoping I could run the Roon Server on something like one of thesehttp://www.jetwaycomputer.com/JBC400P93.html runnng Linux, all suggestions very welcome, thanks

2

I got some i5 Intel NUC model (can’t quite find the exact model at the moment) with 8GB DRAM and 220GB local SSD, total cost ~$500. Music is on a separate Synology NAS. CPU load is almost always negligible.

3

I ran roon server on a cheap atom based nuc running Ubuntu for a while with a library larger than yours and it was fine so i see no reason why the unit you are looking at wouldn’t work. I did use a SSD in the NUC to install Ubuntu and roon on.

4

That question is hard to answer. What one user may be doing with Roon can be completely different in terms of processing needs than another. Library size contributes to that, so does the number of endpoints running simultaneously, are these endpoints going to be grouped, is Roon changing the audio stream like in converting DSD to PCM, etc. All these can impact whether the backend hardware is “good enough”. Also, user expectation of control UI responsiveness can impact that assessment.

Roon is a growing software. It maybe that the devs suggested an i3 or i5 as a base, so that when Roon advances enough that it begins to utilize extra processing power for new features, people who chose to use under minimum spec machines can’t complain too much when they upgrade.

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