Hi Guys,
I have a Nucleus acting as roon server with only the power cable and the ethernet cable attached to it.
Then, i use an Esoteric Streaming dac to play Tidal streaming exclusively.
I am finding strange that from my couch i can hear the Nucleus making a noise i usually relate to writing to an old HDD.
I even opened the Nucleus to confirm there is no HDD inside…and its not.
Is this normal? Where this writing noise comes from?
Thanks for your help
Do you have an older modem/router combo near by? Their capacitors and coils can sometimes sound a little like a hdd be written to when they are under load and getting hot.
Nothing in the Nucleus can make noise, so source of the noise must be something else 
100% sure its the Nucleus. ´
Simply as turning it off to dissapear
With the Nucleus off, start downloading something and start streaming some thing online and see if the modem starts making a noise. Basically, make the modem do some work.
Nucleus off. Noise stops.
Nucleus On. Noise starts.
I was on the same page as you before but now i know the audio comes from it. 100% sure.
Unfortunately I have never poked around the inside of a nucleus, maybe a noisy coil or capacitor inside it? Hopefully someone from Roon sees the thread.
Are you using a fancy shielded ethernet cable on the Nuclesus e.g. Cat 6A, Cat 7, Cat 8?
Have you tried moving your cordless phone to another room to see if that may be the issue?
After your ideas, i just picked the nucleus into my kitchen with no ethernet cable attached and no other devices on the table, plugged the power cable and… the noise its still here.
Just to confirm, the noise is coming from the Nucleus itself? With it powered on, put your ear close to the power supply case. Is the noise coming from there?
When you moved it to the kitchen, presumably your DAC and the rest of the system was disconnected from it?
First time I’ve seen the inside of a Nucleus. I can see why they’re not cheap compared to a basic NUC. That’s some tasty looking CNC machining from a great big chunk of billet! No heat pipes either? CPU bolted right up against the chassis?
7lbs bare weight, so almost 3kg of precisely machined, beautifully anodised Aluminium. That’s artisanal engineering!
For sure a nice case!
Does opening the case void any Roon warranty?
I would be inclined to open, power up and listen with nothing else connected other than power and rule out if the noise is coming from there.
The description of the noise does remind me of ‘coil whine’ somewhat. I’ve experienced that occasionally with graphics cards in PCs over the years.
Michael
I don’t have a Nucleus but I have a NUC7i7BNB in a fanless HD Plex case and for a number of years I used as a Roon Core, although recently I have moved those duties off to an Ubuntu Server. When I was planned this move, I had the NUC next to me on my desk, both in its use running the Roon core and now running Linux, I can hear a similar noise described by the OP. Mine is like a ‘clicking’ perhaps??
Anyway, not completely relevent in terms of hardware but I have also scrutinised the insides, in case I had somehow forgotten a spinning disk in there! I hadnt!
Here it is, please bump up your volume a bit to hear it
Mine does it as well, it’s coil wine, it didn’t matter where it was placed it still did it!
Apparently some motherboards and graphics card are prone to this, it’s not harmful, some boards do and some don’t.
I did try a linear power supply from a friend and it still did it!
Mine is running 24 hours a day and does not interfere with the playback and it far away from me and can’t hear it, still pleased with it, looks nice and as some have said a nice piece of engineering.
Welcome Stephen!
Its’ a noise that once herd would drive me insane, like an itch that can’t be scratched.
If under warranty I would exchange the unit.
Thank you.
It’s one of things they would not replace under warranty because it still works, it’s not loud and you have to be pretty close to hear it.
I am fortunate enough to have a large room so it’s to far enough away not to hear it.
