Is there a sound quality difference between different genartion nucs…
Yes. NUC7 fans are noisier.
AJ
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Fan noise aside, there isn’t a SQ difference between these little computers.
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Best answer ever, and also the only one that can factually lay claim to a sound difference between NUC’s.
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Intresting as I was running roon core for windows on a mini pc x300 with a ryzen apu…it sound really good…then I went over to a 7i7bnh running rock…and there is a definite difference
…the x300 is more dynamic…but the nuc7i7bnh running rock…sounds more analogue…both used the same hi quality belleson LPS … which is better…well it depends…I am going to keep on with the nuc and see how my brain accepts it…
I think the X300 has better power phasing internally so that may make a difference…
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You think? Well does it or doesn’t it? Got any measurements?
What exactly is ‘power phasing’?
How is it supposed to influence the sound quality of a NUC?
You have changed more than hardware… you have also eliminated Windows; I don’t think you can definitively attribute any perceived changes to SQ to the hardware.
What DAC are you using; how is it connected?
Edit - if you’re still using the ND555, I guess the real question is network topology…
When you make a joking comment, you need to insert some sort of emoji to indicate that. Sometimes sarcasm doesn’t come across in posts.
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My assumption was the windows ryzen mini pc would be inferior…but in my system…it stands up rather well against NUC7i7bnh with rock…
Ultimately I think the NUC arrangement is superior…as I said before seriously…the NUC sounds more analogue…smooth spacious and detailed. The X300 has good bass whallop and dynamics… but is not as refined …
I am not saying this is gospel just what I noticed… ND555 has twin psu arrangement so is amazingly sensative…
Dont wish to upset anyone…just thought some may find it interesting 
One thing you notice…the windows services really stress…the computer…the NUC runs nice and cool…passive of course…with rock…
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This I don’t quite understand… what’s exactly meant by ‘sensitivity’ with regard to a streamer? And how does the unit’s PSU affect this sensitivity?
Ok what I am getting at any changes made can be heard… ok I can see people are going to get hacked off with me … I am backing out now have a nice day…
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… still intrigued to know what your network architecture is that propagates these differences.
Unless you’ve got the computer plugged in on the same circuit and it’s messing with all those big toroidal transformers.
An auditory neural network propagates the differences. The computers are irrelevant.
AJ
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I have tried it on my Atari 520st. It sounds fantastic with Roon on a floppy disk. I have not tried yet with Amstrad.
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I have built a number of Music Servers based on Rock and recent Intel (i5 9400) and Ryzen 5600g with Gigabyte Mini ITX motherboards and local disk. We found the Ryzen CPU to have better clarity and sound stage with a more analogue sound. It was also a noticeable improvement on the Nucleus+. Since Ryzen is not officially supported we had to use a USB ethernet conection (Rock does not support the latest intel and realtek NICs) and found Rock would not recognize the Ryzen HDMI (including USB-c to HDMI) for multi channel support.
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You must be joking, right?
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Wow that is so interesting … you are spot on with your comments. I might just go back to the Ryzen … I might try a stripped down Windows 10 Enterprise version mentioned earlier in the thread… I knew I was not imagining it …I found the X300 with the Ryzen very dynamic esp in the bass, great imaging - slightly more edge to the high frequencies… thankyou so much for responding.
I have a very hard time finding reasons for a possible difference in sound.
Using one over another chipset in a computer resulting in a different digital stream is (driving me) NUTS.
There will probably not be presented proof or at least a theory on why this can happen in the digital domain.
Let us hope that this thread will not spin out of control, but just in case “remember to buy popcorn and beverages”.
Ultimately i hope my bank starts using a better chipset.
I think it is do with the power phases within - board supplying current. The Ryzen chip I use is not a mobile chip but a very efficient 4750G APU in an X300 (Asrock). My theory is the power…distribution is just better. The NUC is based on a mobile platform … with fairly feeble power supplies…just a thought.
We need someone clever enough to hack the rock install to allow Ryzen to function properly as an optimised linux core. That would be amazing and a real step forward…