Just signed up for a Roon trial and I’m currently using my M2 Pro Mac mini as my core. I’m wondering if I’d be better off using a headless Intel Nuc which I could wire to my router and hide it behind the TV
Would with the following spec be good: Intel NUC NUC5i7RYH PC i7-5557U 3.4GHz 16GB RAM
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Have a look at the following guide. The NUC should work fine.
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If it’s a choice between WiFi on Mac mini and wired Ethernet on NUC, I’d say go with the NUC.
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That’s what I’m thinking. Just wondering what spec the Nuc should be. Do the specs I put in the OP sound adequate?
That depends on the size of your library, the DSP you want to use, and the number of simultaneous zones you want to play to.
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Depends on the size of your library, how many zones you want to stream to at the same time, and any DSP like upsampling, convolution etc
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Hehe (10chars)
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Ha, same post seconds earlier…
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I’ve got a very modest library. Just over 10k tracks. Would only want to do modest upsampling and would likely only ever be using one zone at a time.
I’m also looking at an intel Core i7 10th Gen with 32GB of RAM to leave a bit of headroom for the future. I’d install Rock on it and use it as a headless, dedicated Roon Server.
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This, if you’ve got it already, but the other will do fine for now.
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Not got either yet but I’m thinking that spending an extra £150 now for the higher specs one may save time money and hassle in the future.
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If you’re in the UK CEX have a NUC8i3BEH for £125 which might be a nice halfway house. The step up in performance from the NUC 8 to 10 isn’t huge.
https://uk.webuy.com/search?stext=Intel+NUC8I5BEH&availability=In+Stock+Online
They have loads of other NUC models too, including the 8i5 and 8i7 models if you want a bit more headroom.
Note, in case it isn’t obvious, the ROCK page lists the recommended models with an x standing in for H (full height; can fit an additional internal SSD drive for your music files) or K (half height; only supports an external drive or a music library on a NAS) ie. NUC8i5BEx can refer to either NUC8i5BEH or NUC8i5BEK.
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I’d do the same.
I got a 2.5gbps lan dongle for my MacBook m1.
Really improved roon performance on the Mac.
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The Mac mini Pro has a built-in Ethernet port, but I believe OP’s Mac mini isn’t ideally located for a wired connection.
It does have a wired connection but it’s wired to a satellite on my mesh network rather than directly to the router. The router in on another floor of the house to wiring my Mac mini to it isn’t an option.
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Thanks for that @j_a_m_i_e I’ve put an offer in for an Intel NUC10i7FNH on eBay so I’ll see how that goes.
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I’ve been running Roon on this little box since 2018 or thereabouts. I have around 17k tracks, run multiple zones, sometime simultaneously, with volume levelling, sample rate conversion, and a couple of filters, depending on zone.
Furthermore, I reckon it will be good for 40-50k albums tracks (I used to add Qobuz to my library, but don’t any more.)
That’s a bargain with 16 GB and a 256 GB SSD (I assume NVMe.) Snap it up! Arguably, the 8th generation is better than the 10th. This model has room for another SSD, too.
Single core performance is a bit better for the 8th gen but it’s so small that it’s not significant except in a border case. On the other hand, the 10th gen uses less power. IMO it’s a toss-up more or less, depending on specific preference
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3302vs3567/Intel-i7-8559U-vs-Intel-i7-10710U
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