Besides saving money is there any benefit to any of these NUC’s over using the Nucleus? And wouldn’t using a hard drive in the Nucleus for your music be better than using another NAS or hard drive providing you have another separate back up drive. I’m also trying Roo n and want to eliminate the computer.
I’m also trying Roon. I know nothing about this stuff but wondered how you like the Naim? My stereo shop just brought them in. I didn’t demo one but saw the price of the starter one. Pretty expensive. Did you demo it vs. Cheaper ones for sound quality. I have Bel Canto stuff and my streamer doesn’t do Roo n or MQA. Looking for a new one and wondering if the extra money gets better sound. Mine cost over 2k but it’s roon ready replacement is only $1600
Brother, you and @Jerry_Zigmont are saying diametrically opposite things.
That’s OK. If you guys are happy, I’m happy. 
Is Roo n playing music files from a NAS problematic for other reasons or just because it doesn’t find new files? Just trying Roo n and I have a NAS. Been using jriver and there you manually import the music into jriver after you add it to your NAS. I have problems with music drop outs. Sometimes often and close together, other times none for hours. Today I’m trying Roo n and I had a bunch together and now none for hours
The main problem is that Roon doesn’t pick up changes automagically
As long as you not running Roon on the NAS, which I don’t believe is an optimal configuration, in spite of others’ recommendations, then music files on a NAS aren’t a big deal.
For me, an internal HDD is what I currently use. I back up my files and Roon library to a NAS.
I have also used an external USB drive without any drawbacks. Also, an external USB drive can be moved to new machine if needed.
Yes, I use to use JShiver for movies. Now I just use Plex, mainly because of its simplicity. JShiver throws everything in the book at one and most of the time it’s too much.
Still, there were some aspects of JShiver that I liked better than the Roon way.
I just used it for music. Didn’t even ever understand the movie aspect of it. My theater is old. Been back to the 2 channel music building a system for a few years. just got the sound as good as I can for my money. Trying now to figure out why I get random drop outs in my music. Everything is hard wired. Thought maybe it was jriver. For no other reason then I ran out of ideas. Either that or getting the music of the computer with an I’d for jriver or making the switch to Roo n and a Nucleus. And of course then I need a roon ready streamer. At this point if I get rid of the drop outs I won’t mind spending some extra money after I thought I was done
If you are saying that you have dropouts with JShiver, then you’ll probably have dropouts with Roon.
Still, doesn’t hurt to trial Roon for a couple of weeks.
Probably a network problem of some kind. Although what that could be is the big question.
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Yes. I can relate to that
Curious why you hated the Mac mini. I’ve been using one for almost 6 years now and it has been flawless.
It was a 2014 i5 whose performance Apple crippled.
Also, used Wintel for years and never could get used to macOS.
Hi Tom,
I have the Naim Mu-So2 and also a Naim Uniti Atom, in seperate rooms. The MuSo2 is a new purchase and I must say its brilliant IMOH and love the sound. Have been running it in for a few days and is getting a bit smoother on the sound. Never demo’d Naim before, just read the reviews and they are always excellent. Give it a go.
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Thanks Steve, yes I saw this one, I want to add a 1TB ScanDisk SSD to the unit. Its enough for my music for now, if I need more in a few years I’m sure a 5TB will be at £30!
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Definitely what I found moving from Roon core on NAS to Nucleus
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That’s interesting. Maybe once I get the NUC setup I will try this. Play a song on the SSD in the NUC and then try the same song on the QNAP NAS I have.
FWIW I can detect absolutely no differences. NUC/ROCK playing from a Synology NAS vs Internal SSD. The SSD is a bit snappier, but the music is indistinguishable.
MSB DAC --> Pass Monoblocks —> Rockport Atria speakers.
That’s what I did. Got a Nucleus+ on ten-day demo. The difference was readily apparent and the Nucleus+ improved further with the addition of a Sean Jacobs DC3 linear power supply
I’m not a complete Luddite, and have been tossing around the NUC/NAS decision since I started diving into Roon.
I’ve read through this thread and nod my head at both sides. “Yeah - that sounds right.” Then the opposite opinion is in the next reply. “Wait, that might be true, too.”
Would someone explain to me why running Roon core on an SSD in a NAS device isn’t exactly the same as running Roon core from an SSD in a NUC, given relatively the same chip standards - i3, i5, etc? Isn’t an NAS in essence just a NUC with drive bays for backup? If you have a NUC, you still need storage somewhere for the library, so a NUC with a couple of HD’s looks to me to be a NAS without the box.
It’s not the hardware, it’s the software that makes the difference. A NUC running ROCK is designed by Roon Labs to be a Roon appliance - nothing more and nothing less. It seems to me that the companies producing NAS devices have been adding bells and whistles to something that was originally intended to be a storage appliance accessed over the network, turning into something approaching a general-purpose server. I like the KISS principle more than unnecessary complexity.
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Just curious. For those guys who hear or don’t hear a difference. Do you hear a difference with better interconnects and power cords? I was a non believer but I have now tried them and there is definitely a difference. Very subtle but it’s there. And my system is at the lowest end in the high-end store
I can see that maybe on the purpose-built Roon NUC and NUC+, but - going back to the OP’s question in this thread - if one had an i3 NUC running ROCK on an internal SSD with external HDs for the Roon core library vs. a similar i3 running Roon ROCK on an internal SSD with the HDs internal in a NAS, I can’t see what would make the difference.