Installing a new SSD in an existing NUC running ROCK

I would definitely use an internal SSD for music storage, but I would not expect to hear any difference in SQ.

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Maybe not, but it would be a very neat solution with a silent case.

Thanks for the replies.

I would be interested in an internal SSD in the NUC (a second, the first is already in place with ROCK installed), to store the music, as an alternative to accessing the music across the network, with the music stored on the NAS. The new case, which is in the post, will mean silent operation.

It depends on how you define “improve performance”.
I switched from NAS storage to internal SSD drive in my NUC. My observations:

  1. New music is noticed almost instantly versus who knows when on the Synology NAS.
  2. The start of new music is slightly snappier. Especially the first track of music you start spinning. We’re not talking seconds. Maybe tenths of seconds. But it was noticeable. Once tracks are queued there is no difference.
  3. I’ve repeatedly switched back and forth from the NAS to SSD playing the same high resolution track. I can not hear a difference. This is with an MSB Analog DAC, Pass XA100.5 monoblock amps, Rockport Atria speakers and 63 year old ears (but I’m spry!).
    Personally, I think it’s worth the upgrade. Read this as expectation-setting.

Thank you for hte reply.

I would not be expecting any change in sound, I was thinking more performance and like you described really. The NAS performance is by no way poor, but I am always looking at stuff with a ‘tinkering’ mindset, and adding an SSD to store the music in the NUC seems like a way to eek out a bit more performance. The main downside that I can see is cost. I have around 1.2tb of files right now, but I have some stuff to still still to encode, so I think I would want more than 2tb, and then it becomes pretty expensive.

I would bet there is some portion of your library you don’t listen to very often (or at all). That could be put on a separate watched folder on the NAS. It will still show up in Roon, but it would just take a few seconds longer to load. You could even disable the NAS watched folder most of the time.

Unfortunatlely performance with an internal SSD is much worse than having the files on a good NAS. But as Roon does nor recognize file changes via smb protocol, I had to move them to an internal SSD.

Not happy with it.

I think he’s talking about using Roon, not using NAS without Roon.

Brian posted about the merits of NAS v SSD storage here:

One thing to remember is you cannot Focus on folders on an Internal ssd. Not a problem if it is a new setup but if you use this feature it can become frustrating. It would be nice if this option was added to internal ssd Storage.

You also cannot use it as a backup location. I really like using external drives, all the benefits with no real downsides.

I moved 21k tracks from a Sinology NAS to a 2TB SSD on my fanless Ubuntu Server NUC a while ago. Main reasons are access speed and no need for annoying rescans.

My workflow for new music and backups is as follows. I manage downloads and CD rips on a Macbook Pro that has the NAS mounted via SMB. I store the music files on the NAS. The NAS is also mounted on my NUC. I run a small rsync script on the NUC to bring new and updated music files from the NAS. IOW, I always have an immediate copy. In addition, the NAS backs the download subset of this music up to cloud storage regularly and automatically. Last, I back up the NAS regularly to separate hard drives.

Thanks for the input @Fernando_Pereira , did you see much performance difference, e.g. speed of access etc, when shifting from the your music stored on your NAS to the music being stored on your internal SSD?

Started with NUC/ROCK connected to NAS, all the problems stated above- watched folders required a Force Rescan each time I added music and occasional slow loading of artwork and access. Switched to internal Samsung 2TB EVO and all of the above are gone. Added benefit was I now have 3 backups for my music files, overkill but very safe! Can’t really say that the SQ changed but I didn’t do any critical comparisons either.

If I was to get a new SSD, I would probably need more than 2tb, probably more like 4tb. I wonder if it makes much difference (if I went for Samsung) if I used PRO, EVO or QVO??

I refer you to this:

Sorry, I am using a Samsung QVO drive in my NUC. Everything I read at the time said there was no difference for listening to music.

Thanks again all for the replies and updates. I will have a read of the thread suggested by @Geoff_Coupe - thank you!

Faster startup when I select something to play, besides the benefit with nearly-instant addition of new music to the library.

I have been thinking about this a bit more over the last few days, especially as I transferred the NUC internals over to a fanless case yesterday and there is space for a SSD. However a 4TB is pretty expensive, and I am trying to weigh up whether it is worth purchasing.

Through luck or a good ethernet network (its probably luck!!), the current system does not really have issues using the Synology NAS, although it could be faster on occasion. I also utilise HQ Player which sits on my desktop PC (as it needs some decent power to run the settings I am interested in), and I wonder whether any advantage I might see coming from having a local SSD would be cancelled out by having to use HQ Player on the desktop which adds in a small delay when pressing play/pause etc?? One to ponder…