Intel has always used “Celeron” and “Pentium” for the cheapest and least powerful CPUs. Certainly below any i5 or higher CPU of the same generation. Not sure about the i3.
However. In the case of the Nucleus One. You know what you can expect from it given that Roon has stated that it is suited to handle up to 6 zones and a library size of up to 100k tracks / 10k albums.
When it comes to storage. I’ve just retired my trusty 2014 Mac Mini. Roon Server on an external SSD running on Linux, and the internal hard drive for storing my collection of music. I’ve replaced the Mini with my M1 MacBook Pro running on the current macOS Sonoma. And I have placed my music collection on an external 2 tb USB hard drive. Both systems have 8 gb of RAM. My current library sits at 7.2k albums and nearly 76k tracks. Roon is very responsive here.
When it comes to storing music you don’t need an SSD. A traditional hard drive is more then quick enough to handle FLAC’s. Only Roon itself should be installed on an SSD.
Even though I won’t be buying a Nucleus anytime soon, if ever, the One is great value for what it offers.
If speculations are correct about the CPU and board, expect the Nucleus One to be a bit faster than Nucleus. Benchmarks are not telling an exact picture but single thread performance would be +10% and all-in benchmark +50%.
The track limit given in the specs seems to be rather on the conservative side compared to legacy Nucleus´ specs which you can get intro trouble with an overly complicated 100k library.
Same with Gen7 core i3. Do not see the point in having something being regarded as ´cutting edge´ in a completely different field of application just for the sake of such title. All the aforementioned CPUs might not be threadrippers but they work astonishingly fine with roon. Mind you it is not multitasking and breaking benchmark records but also about low heat dissipation and less need for heatsinks or loud fan. Most modern generation of Celerons is perfect for that.
Why anyone would care about Intel’s marketing?
I guess Nucleus Titan would be the perfect product for this part of the market, is it not?
Do not understand what you criticize in roon´s product policy. The One is not for audiophiles and the Titan is not for budget people? I think the fact they are extending their potential user base and making it as easy as possible for people to have the experience, it is wonderful news.
I consider myself an audiophile as well but I am very happy for every affordable product entering the market and giving people somewhat of a ´wow´ experience with music. Have met too many fellow audiophiles who are proud on spending tens of thousands and telling other people their affordable equipment is not meeting audiophile standards. In my understanding this has repelled a whole generation from getting into HiFi and I am very glad roon is trying to reach everyone, not just the rich and the IT people.
It’s be inclined to cancel. You don’t need to run Roon hardware, I suspect most people don’t. I’d keep one eye on alternatives for the day the nucleus fails, other posts in this forum indicate the costs of repair are eye watering expensive.
Respectfully it’s not about rich or it people. Product specs are discussed with all audio components. It’s just one way to help understand and evaluate a product.
Roon should have no issue identifying and explaining their product offering to anyone with questions. The CPU and storage speed and type are normal considerations for computer products. Nucleus is a computer product. If Roon position is to make the case that for music storage and playback these metrics don’t apply, that’s fine make that case. Don’t get insulted for being asked to clarify the products performance.
Consumers like me can then make an informed decision as to buy it or not.
Simple as that. In addition expressing an opinion about their product is everyone’s right. It’s not intended to do anything other than for other audiophiles to read and decide if the opinion has merit for their circumstance.
But it isn’t a “computer product”, it’s an appliance that happens to be based on computer hardware. It’s sold as a closed system to provide a dedicated Room server.
If you want a computer, don’t buy a Nucleus.
It is indeed a similar problem with audio gear that a lot of irrelevant specs and measurements are discussed and taken as a base for a buying decision. Fortunately there are a lot of people who understand about relevancy and know how to judge the result with their ears.
You are free to take any decision but unless you have deep knowledge about how roon works on a given machine and is actually using the components of the core I personally would not call this decision informed.
To judge that, you have to try it against the majority of advices. I did exactly that, and was surprised by the way a multiple-times-disparaged Celeron called ´below all minimum specs´ in an even more disparaged NAS was performing with roon (actually better than a legacy Nucleus).
That’s why I do not take people seriously who just tell others their CPU is below par solely because of its name. I trust roonlabs they had been taking an informed decision when choosing the platform for Nucleus One. And I am sure people who are not into IT gear and. specs are exactly those who would buy Nucleus One without caring for the specs.
I’m sure the Nucleus One will suffice for the customer segment it’s intended for, just like the Titan will do for those that have larger libraries and/or DSP requirements etc.
Since the One seem to be Celeron based, i have no objections about that, i have been running several Celeron based Cores during my years with Roon and they work just fine, even with larger libraries.
There was a time when a Celeron processor was associated with subpar performance and “cheapness”, but Intel has advanced the capabilities of each segment in ther processor line up (imo).
I think a good comparison can be made with the Titan and it’s Core i3 1315U processor. Today, you chose an i3 if your intended use does not benefit from multiple cores. The single Core performnce of an i3 is the same as for the i7, where the latter doubles heat, energy consumption and PSU requirements etc etc.
You know it can sometimes be frustrating to field an opinion on a forum as it can bring out some rude and disparaging comments from some instead of honest debate. I have decades of experience in audio and that’s from the all in one record players to six figure rooms and systems. In that experience most all my knowledge comes from the experts I Hired to build my rooms and the dealers who I purchased equipment from. In fact I built a complete six figure system with TOTL Meridian SooLoss components( I understand the guys who started Roon came from that project) and that was over a decade ago. So respectfully networked based music I have had over a decade ago. Frankly I only mention that as some comments suggest I should not have an opinion as it’s not informed??? However I am not aware of the masses of audiophiles who actually get the chance to demo all the options available however optimum and desired that would be. It also happens that several IT departments were direct reports to me in my executive duties throughout the years. Again, Im not an expert but I have been surrounded by qualified people who are in these fields for years.
As such in very broad and general terms the specs we are discussing , Celeron processors, mechanical disc drives etc etc etc were always though to provide less performance that higher end chips M.2 fast SSD storage. That was how those products were always marketed. So it’s not a stretch in my view to question that. As always I am open to learn, if that’s no longer the case or the uniqueness of the Roon application makes that less important ( not unlike apple hardware and software control synergies) then in my view Roon should communicate that. I read some commentary for Roon execs claims that we don’t want to get into processor discussions as we “don’t want that to be the focus of the discussion” Ok then help your customers understand why the basic general spec knowledge that most people have about chips and drives doesn’t apply here.
Trying to shut down concern or criticizing the people who ask these questions like myself is not in my view the way to win customers in the long run. There is a world of alternates to Roon (increasingly more each day) and I can’t and most won’t be able to demo them all. So we read and watch reviews form others and people who do. Questions about all subscriptions music quality are all over the forums everyday. I must say Im surprised this appears to be seen as an unfair to question Roon new products???
Look if your happy with Roon or any other component that great, I am a current Roon customer, I have a Nucleus and I preordered the Nucleus One unfortunately for me “I Assumed” the specs would be a clear upgrade as most new tech is? So my faith in the Roon service overall from the get go made me feel confident to preorder and not overly research the offering. When I got more deeply into the product and began to surface my questions. that’s my bad. However I think that’s healthy and warranted with any product and it is my hope that instead of sarcastic comments and disparaging personal remarks how about we just discuss the facts and why those concerns may not be warranted? Part of my initial reaction frankly was driven by how Roon support responded in part like “Listen if you have concerns don’t buy it” ( that was the tone) that again is not a winning attitude and encourages the consumer to look at and research other current alternatives. That is exactly what I am doing. In the end if Roon turns out to be a solid solution for my application then I’ll be the first to acknowledge that and use it…so please let’s keep the cheap shots out of the conversation and provide some helpful information. I apologize if any of my initial comments came off as snarkie as I was turned off by the initial response I received from the support team.
I will now get off the subject (really) and continue doing more homework for my decision on storage solutions and sound quality.
Key words here are ´were´ and ´marketed´. I would not base anything I would call an informed decision on these two.
It is no longer the case.
Roon´s uniqueness makes benchmarks or usual methods to judge a CPU´s performance much less important. Particularly those relevant for multitasking, video/photo processing, (de)crypting or gaming (which are seemingly main reasons why individuals want to know about CPU performance for home use so most of reviews discuss these).
I think some members of roon staff have been explaining in detail why and my practical experience is supporting these claims. The only basic spec that seems to be somehow relevant is the single thread performance of a CPU.
That is the case, it is a clear upgrade in every respect, as explained (except from the need of a fan). So why care for outdated marketing claims and doubt the capabilities of the product you just ordered?
I absolutely agree, let us lead this conversation in respectful manner based on facts and experience. Sorry for being frank about informed decisions but I tend to take this a bit personal as was also facing similar comments like ´way below the minimum specs!´, ´forget Celerons´ or alike and bought my current machine with a certain feeling of cognitive dissonance. Just to find out that it works fantastic and all the prior warnings were everything but informed.
Thank you your response is much appreciated. I will hopefully receive mine today and get it set up and start checking it out. Again thank you. I apologize if my emotion showed as well. have a great day
Just because somebody dangles a sparkling new thing in your face doesn’t mean your old sparkling thing is automatically broken and you hypnotically have to pull out your checkbook. Nothing going on here but G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). My NUC 7i5 in an Akasa fanless case is humming along just fine and should be for a number of years to come. The ‘upgrade’ desire in our society (phones, cars, cameras, houses, you name it) is not healthy, imo.
In my understanding the most interesting scene is his live testing of roon´s UI after initializing his 138k tracks collection. That’s above the recommended track maximum of the N1 and he seems to have considerable amount of classical music (which is in most cases eating up even more computing power). One can see that some pages do not open instantly but it is still surprising how reactive this Celeron-based server acts.
Alright, some posts directed at a particular forum user crossed the line and were removed. You can have quiet opinions, but think before you post. Ad hominem comments won’t be tolerated.
Sorry if I missed this, but now that the One has a fan, does it still have special tailored temperature control software like the original Nucleus had? (Which has to be enabled by Roon staff if a user reinstalls ROCK due to an SSD failure?).
I’m trying to determine the hardware specifications for the new Roon Nucleus One, and to make a judgement call on whether to purchase the machine or my own NUC for upgradability.
Is there hardware specifications for the Roon Nucleus One available? I can’t seem to find specs listed anywhere on the site. Cheers.