NAS recommendation

Roon Software Discussion
1

I’m looking for a NAS recommendation to move my files to it. I will be connecting it to a Mac Mini. Current recommendations are for running Roon Core on the NAS, which is not something I want to do right now. Currently using a Mac Mini with 2x3TB drives connected via USB. I’d like to remove the drives and move the music to a NAS (with bigger drives)

Thanks for any recommendations.

2

Why not get a NUC with Rock for the core? I use a Synology DS716+ for the music files. The successor Synology device would work well. But I don’t use the NAS for the core – which I think just isn’t optimal. I know others will disagree.

3

I’m guessing you’ve seen https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Server_on_NAS? If you’re a DIYer there are other options. I use a headless Dell PowerEdge T30 for server and storage.

4

I use a QNAP HS 251+ NAS drive with 2x6 TB Western Digital Red drives. This is a fanless, silent NAS has a small form factor and is very reliable in use. The only drawback is that the 2GB of ram installed is not user upgradeable, so it is not suitable for running Roon Core, if you ever decided that you did want to run it on your NAS.

5

Hi All,

New to the scene, I just installed it yesterday on my DS1817+, with 16 GB and a dedicated 120 GB SSD.

Extremely impressed. Not sure how it will handle once the NAS is also doing some more “heavy” file transfer (like copying raw photos, backups, etc.). But with a few streams playing, the cpu usage was around 3-4%.

Although im still in demo mode, a life time lic. is next !

6

I think you’ll find that the Atom processor will handle a small library reasonably well, but may be sluggish when browsing, i.e. pictures may be noticeably slow to load. Also, it’ll probably take a hit with DSP. I started off with an Turion N40l [918] which has about a third of the processing power of the C2250 [2329]. The recommended processor (NUC) is a I3-7100U [3779].

Once you’ve copied the bulk of your files to the NAS file transfers shouldn’t be an issue.

[brackets=benchmark scores]

7

@Martin_Webster what would you consider small?

8

There’s no definition of medium and large on https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Optimized_Core_Kit. However, my N40L handled around 800 albums fine so long as I didn’t use DSP. Browsing was on the sluggish side though. I had an SSD for OS and 16GB memory. Music libraries on a ZFS pool. I also process a lot of RAW files and transfers were generally okay.

10

No, ROCK is an operating system you install on a NUC.
Single-purpose, runs only Roon.
Eliminates this kind of concern:

…because it never does anything else.

11

Ah crap, sorry bit of a Faux Pas…:blush:

I saw Amazon, thought it was AWS, but its the shop.

LOL, sorry.

12

Thank you all for your contributions. I’m pretty much a beginner when it comes to this. I’ll make some statements as I understand the situation, which please confirm or correct as the case may be.
To avoid guesswork, I am currently running Roon Core on a headless Mac Mini. My music library resides on external discs connected to the Mini by USB and the internal disc as well. The library is in the region of 4500 CDs with another 2-300 high resolution titles. Generally, I am ripping the CDs using iTunes (I know), but using Roon for access to it, as well as radio, Tidal etc…Finally, the Mac connects to the internet via wifi. Ideally, I would place the NAS in the basement, but there is no wifi access there.

  1. Having a Mac interface with Safari and so on allows me to download CD pictures when Roon can’t find them or easily correct data. This cannot be accomplished easily using a Roon Core running on a NAS.
  2. If I move Roon Core to a NAS, I’ll need to buy a streamer bridge to connect to wifi equipment such as the Zeppelin or the Naim Mu-So boxes that I have.
  3. I will also need something (streamer bridge again?) to connect Roon core to my wifi devices (iPad etc…) so I can control it
  4. If Core is installed on the NAS, I will need to go to the NAS to rip CDs. I would setup a ripping software on the NAS.
  5. I also use the Mac / Safari to download music from the internet. I presume I would have to do that from another computer on the network and save the results to the NAS

Thanks for any input - hoping to clear that fog.

13

I tried to order the QNAP TVS-471 recommended in the Knowledge Base, but it is now an end-of-life product and was unavailable. QNAP says that the TVS-473e is its replacement. I ordered one yesterday and it’s arriving tomorrow. The good thing is that the successor model is about $100 cheaper, and I used some of the difference to get 8GB memory instead of 4GB and still saved $50. I’ll report on my experience in setting up the Roon-recommened configuration, putting Roon core on an SSD.

2 Likes
14

James,

I expect that you will be in for a great experience.

Based on my other needs as well I selected a QNAP 473e, configured it with 8Gb of memory, 3 x 4TB for a simple RAID1 + hot spare (I make nightly backups to an off-site NAS), a 512GB SSD for software/databases in the 4th bay and a M2 PCIe SSD for caching.

It works flawless and is very snappy. Even when switching on DSP like Eq, sample rate conversion and speaker positioning, I don’t notice any slowdown in response.
I have a limited library of about 620 ripped CDs and some 25HD albums. So I can’t test how it would work with a much larger library.

15

How did you get on? I’m looking at that option

16

SonicTranspoter i5 would be a goon solution. It has an i5 processor (Roon’s minimum recommendation is an i3) It has 8GB of RAM (4GB is OK but 8GB will allow you to have a very large library if you want)

Roon runs OK on lower powered boxes if you have a small libary but the user interface can get sluggish

This solution has plenty of processing power and is completely Fanless.

Also unlike ROCK you can run a other apps on it like HQPlayer as well as Roon Server.

You can get it with internal storage or use an external USB drive.

17

I haven’t been able to set it up, yet. I’m waiting for my installer to come back with some items to finish the installation of the rest of the system. Meanwhile, I’m doing my taxes. I’ll be able to get to it probably late next week. Thanks for asking.

18

Albert, thanks for the information on your system. I set mine up similarly to yours, except for the extra caching drive. sSee my reply to Cemil’s inquiry below.

19

It’s working very well, with no complaints. I’m slowly augmenting the number of discs I had downloaded to my 4TB G-Drive (and subsequently copied over to the NAS). I don’t have a huge collection, but it certainly makes a difference now that I can call up anything I want without having to wrestle each time with the jewel cases.

Also, the associated discs that Roon downloads when you install the Core (as well as Roon Radio) beautifully supplement my collection, and the program is a seamless portal to Tidal. Since I run everything through either the Cary Audio DMS-500 or BlueSound’s Node 2 (now supplemented with the Mytek Liberty DAC) and Pulse speakers in other rooms (depending on whether it’s music for serious listening or background), Roon provides smooth and reliable access to MQA files. And now that I’ve replaced my Marantz desktop DAC/headphone amp with the MQA-decoding Pro-Ject Pre Box S2, I’ve got access to all file types and formats no matter how I listen. I’m in hog heaven.

20

James,
Good to hear that this setup is working well for you and thanks for reporting back on it.

The cache I installed mostly helps with my photo/video work using the NAS. I moved it to another computer last week for some work that required high speed storage and didn’t notice any degradation in Roon performance. So it’s probably over the top for Roon only (since it also uses the ‘normal’ SSD already).