The other way around, other apps are annoying me on the roon mini, but I would drive a newer model of the car I own instead of switching to a automated diesel suv, so It’s convenience
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I guess I will agree with you on the idea of purchasing a new expensive mini for roon might not be the most cost-effective solution. But if you’re a mac person, and don’t want to learn a new platform, it’s not completely nonsensical.
In my case, I had the mini already, i’m used to the mac ecosystem, it’s very easy to manage remotely from my other macs, and it runs ONLY roonserver – and it works flawlessly. I don’t really have a need for a NUC.
However, my core mini is a 2012, which is probably the oldest one that’s going to work. At some point it will die, or be rendered no longer supported/recommended/adequate, and I’ll have to make the decision on its replacement.
I like mac stuff, so that’s part of the decision. But I also like the idea of trying something new, so a NUC/ROCK isn’t out of the question either. (I learned how to set up raspberry pi’s with HATs and HQPlayer and RoPieeeXL, so i think i could handle a NUC.)
It’s all good.
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Well with ROCK, it is the OS, therefore you can take that out of the equation. With a mac or windows you will always have the underlying operating system, which will do what its going to do, download updates, do things not related to roon that annoy.
I run my server in a docker in the garage so looks are not a consideration. However I do have rock running on an end point, its literally been on for nearly 3 months and only got switched off when I managed to trip the house power.
The only reason I could think to use a mini just for roon, is if you HAVE to look at it (I would never run a server near my hifi) or to maintain some sort of resale value.
I used to have 3 pc’s on my table, belly up and opened. So nothing more fun and adrenaline than new systems and learning. Now I pay more for a mini just because I know the shortcuts. The clock ticks the same 
I do not like the look of it. A black box with no logo would have been better
I’ve run core on two M1 Mac minis. One was 8 gigabytes of RAM, and it really had problems. When I went up to 16 GB it works perfectly.
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Dismal Manor Gang has run Roon Core on an old intel iMac running MacOS. When MacOS went out of support, we put Linux on the machine. Media was on a local disk for a while but later moved to a NAS SMB share. Then we had transient problems on power restore as the NAS and the Mini had different boot times with the Mac winning the race and getting cross because the NAS was not ready.
The current Roon Rig runs Roon on a TrueNAS VM that starts after the share is ready. This has proven very stable. Networking is Cox for ISP and Ubiquity UniFi Ethernet plant and WiFi access points. Library is 2500 albums with about 20% physical media in the share and 80% Qobuz.
Here at home, it is common for the controller to take a snooze every now and again. I think this is WiFi congestion as there are 40-some networks that can be heard by the lounge access point! The UniFi controller is catching several short Cox fades a day. Just a minute or 2 likely from line work somewhere in the plant. I also have fades while the networking gear is doing housekeeping and while Roon is making database backups.
Given the number of permutations possible in Roon rigs, there is precious little information other beyond “I can’t get it to work on a Mac Mini” in your post. You really need to tell us what networking you are using, what sort of ISP connection you have, how much of the rig is on Ethernet and how much on WiFi and what WiFi kit you are using with your controller. Oh, and the specific symptoms.
It would also help if you could tell us how well a hard-wired controller is behaving, for example, a notebook or desktop on wired Ethernet. That’s a strong clue as to where in the network your issue lies. Concluding the Apple Silicon Mini is at fault is a leap of faith at this point.
My Mac Mini i5 (2018) has been running Roon (4+ years) long before a Nuc existed. It has plenty of uses. I have two Ethernet connects, (via Caldigit T3) one to internet, one direct to my Meridian 861. Why would I ever want a single use item like the Nuc?
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Same 2 ethernet for a while, one internet and one directly to the bridge. But still it is full of apps that I do not use, if not the convenience of osx and me being used to it I would probably get a nuc. In 1+ year of my mini I have opened roon, system prefs and utilities. But there is a point in repurposing, if I upgrade Roon Core the mini can do the other computer tasks.
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Despite having a high speed switch and various attempts to resolving the problem, I used to regularly loose the connection between the Mac and my 861. Music would just stop playing. I finally fixed it with a direct wire between the two devices. I always felt that Roon should have had a better ability to overcome this. But, I’m content now with the direct connect. As for a Nuc, they’re not really that much cheaper than a Mac mini, so even single purpose, I think the Mini makes more sense. If nothing else, it’ll have a higher resale value if it ever came to that.
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I have my Roon Server on na 2012 MAC Mini i7 1 TB and 16MB RAM…it works flawlessly…I’ll replace it this fall with an MAC Mini Pro M2 with 16MB AUM and 1TB SSD Storage. I was able to modify my 2012 MAC Mini with not one but two SSD’s, after removing the 1TB HDD and upgrading the RAM to 16MB.
My Roon Core in my Office is a 2020 M1 MAC Mini with 1TB SSD and 16 MB AUM. This Mini stores my added convolutions for Room Correction. I have zero problems with this set up and think that the MAC Mini is the best form factor for using with Roon…,.
All my connections are hard wired…though use bluetooth and wireless connection for other Apple devices.
Headless Mac Mini 16GB Ram 256GB SSD - never had an issue, no daily reboot CAT8 Ethernet to Router to Roon Ready Integrated… it just goes
I do have it connected to a 18TB SAN via Lightingbolt and has been humming along 24/7 for 5 yrs.
now look if any apps are starting up at boot up
disable all power saving settings
My recommendation is to have this Mac Mini dedicated to Roon and only running Roon to see… I also Run Plex on same Mac Mini so this Mac is more then capable
good luck
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Thanks all for your advice …
How do you remotely access Mac mini from your iPad?
I can do it from my MacBook but, so far, not from my iPad…
Tas
@Filipe_Mello - two questions:
- are you running the same release of Roon as the Roon Server on your Mac mini?
- is your iPad in the same IP address range as your Mac mini?
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How are you trying? Download RVNC Viewer app and it is easy.
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Install the Roon app on your iPad from the app store. Do whatever updates might be needed to get everything on the same version (or appropriate version) of Roon.
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My MacbookPro M1 Pro runs the Roon server seamlessly. In fact, it is far better than my PC if I want to do some DSP.
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I have been a Roonie for 7 years and I find that the MAC Mini is THE BEST way to utilize Roon. I have my Library on a 2012 MAC Mini i7. In those days you could endlessly modify the form factor to your liking like I installed my own SSD’s one for my Library and one for B/U… >. I also have a MAC Mini M1 for my Roon Core in my Office…that mini is used for my Room Corrections installed through Roon.
It’s a shame Mini’s can longer be modified by the owners…but they still work excellent for Roon. Way less grief than using any Widows format…on any machine…
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Are you running Avast Antivirus or any other Avast products?
Thanks!!! That is what I needed! Works like a charm both on iPhone and iPad.
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