The Nucleus Titan as advertised is expensive, no doubt, and it would be impossible for me to consider one based on the price alone. But if high performance is there as advertised, longevity with top quality internal components, then I’d have to give it some consideration.
The one area where my current server (NUC8I7BEH) has performance issues is when the radio followup function selects one of my DSD 256 5.1 files and has to convert that to PCM 5.1 for playback over HDMI. It drags the i7 processor down to 1x resulting in stuttering and skipping. Assuming the Titan could prove itself capable of handling that situation with ease and perform at that level for years without a hiccup then it would be on my list of possible replacements for my current setup.
For my part, my Roon Server (a NUC 11i7) is tucked away out of sight (but not where I can’t hear it if the fan starts up - which it doesn’t the way that I am using it). This being the case, the is no value for me in a luxury product unless it also has technical merit.
If, as is currently believed, the Titan is based on a NUC platform, then there are only two questions left for me.
Does it offer a performance advantage over what I can build myself? With previous Nucleus products, the answer to that is No and it is likely to be the same for the Titan.
Is it acoustically quieter than something I can build myself when used as I would use it? Again at present, the answer no - because my NUC is good enough and is totally silent in practice.
So. Those that want to buy a Titan are welcome to do so - but I believe that they should know what they are paying for - and it is not performance.
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Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
357
It could be argued that everyone has a moral duty to protect those unable to think clearly for themselves. It takes a village! Or a forum.
Profit is not a dirty word. The Titan is not being marketed to you who crow. Remember you are using expensive software (roon) which functionality can be had for free (squeeze). You found value in it.
For computer literate people, the only thing of value in a computer is performance. To those people, a diamond-encrusted Celeron is not going to pass as anything else than an outdated computer. That’s the power of knowledge. As for aesthetics, a fanless computer is basically a decorated brick.
I don’t understand this thread , Hi Fi is and always will be a matter of diminishing returns .
We all must have started as young students (so way back) listening the music of the day on whatever we could afford (Cell phones and ear buds these days) .
As we climbed the slippery pole we eventually generate that magic “disposable income” after our other commitments of wife, family, kids to school etc we may choose to spend that on exotic Hi Fi.
Whether we believe that exotic stuff sounds better than cheaper stuff is almost irrelevant, where you put that “spare money”, cars, motor bikes, guitars, coffee machines (look at the forum) watches , houses, vacations etc is a personal choice why should you have to defend it
Maybe it’s just jealousy from the detractors who can’t (YET) afford such luxurious kit
I wouldn’t buy a Titan a my server lives in a cupboard , sexy good looks are irrelevant. Each to his own.
So you’re saying that selling a $1k audiophile switch is ok as long as it’s marketed as a hi-fi component and not as what it actually is?
Absolutely. Those should not be called hi-fi to begin with. As long as you’re in the digital domain, everything is a computer, and any component that works for general computing works just as well for audio. Any embellishment on top of that is simply a scam.
Nobody needs to defend a nucleus purchase, as I wrote before, I don’t actually care who buys what.
I’m most definitely not against people working to have a decent disposable income.
If Roon started selling art and we were discussing a piece of pottery or sculpture I’d agree, the value is subjective, there’s plenty of art that is well out of my budget.
I replied in response to someone who suggested getting one as a cure to system issues some people seem to have, if it’s a NUC in a different box, that’s unlikely to happen.
There’s no jealousy here but I will make people aware of what it is they are getting. There’s no need to do that if someone pays a fortune for a beautifully restored original 68 Mustang or E type Jag, they know exactly what their good weather Sunday car is.
It’s not splitting hairs though is it, this is definitely a computer.
Someone designed the cases and that’s it, there’s no DAC, amp or any claim to improve/ change the sound that I have seen.
And there’s your art - which will presumably appeal to some.
I mean, some people clearly bought Starck’s Alessi lemon squeezer more as an art piece than for its practicality (it’s useless as a lemon squeezer). At least the Titan has a purpose that it will presumably fulfil completely.
That’s why I used the art example deliberately, if someone stumbled upon the Roon site who doesn’t even use Roon but buys it to use as art, I see no issue with that at all, it’s subjective.
My thoughts are that your post typifies why I think it needs to close, unless you have evidence to support it, how do you know what is “actually useful” to Harman?
What I see are a group of guys pontificating about the concepts around capitalism, design and value for money; which in the hobby that we share is somewhat ludicrous.
I’m not sure that being a “grown up” is a coverall for criticising manufacturer’s decisions, potential customers gullibility and defining what is hi-fi on a software forum. This is a broad church and we should all be able to spend our money where and on what we want without passive aggressive whining.
… Yes it’s a broad church, we should be able to discuss a product aimed directly at us, users of Roon.
There is the ability to ignore the thread and not participate.
There are threads I ignore completely as I am just not interested in them or the views being expressed, I do not want them to be closed.
