I am in a similar boat; my reason for moving would be a fanless operation.
I am curious as to how Roon Core will run on the new M4 Mac Mini. It is a beast of a computer with 16GB Ram and 10 Core CPU for $599
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There are at least two threads about this, and one more for HQPlayer. Search for Mini M4 and you will find them
Don’t know if this helps as it is a subjective opinion but I took the leap and purchased the Nucleus One with the linear power upgrade option and I think the new unit is more responsive and produce better quality sound. The music is played through eight Devialet Opera Phantom Is in multi room configuration.
My only complaint is that the internal hard drive connector was not properly connected to the ribbon and I am waiting to see how Roon resolves that issue.
Well that was fast the supplier of the Nucleus One in Singapore called me and they are sending a new cable and connector. They said that the cable is very fragile as Roon wanted to make it as slim as possible!
My current choice for a Roon Server would be the brand new Apple Mac Mini M4. The basic setup idles at 4.8W, which is pretty close to a Raspberry Pi 5.
Ah, thanks, but no. I want an appliance, not a general-purpose computer…
Well spoken. 
I think you should buy a Nucleus One 
(just so you can open it up, check the cpu and ram and let us know whether it is a just an over priced NUC in a big audiophile looking box? 
)
Edit: We sort of already know though don’t we…
Well…I did it. I bought a Nucleus one. I couldn’t take it anymore and I had to see for myself.
I was running ROCK on a NUC 8i5 with 8gb ram and a 4TB internal HDD for storage. Other than the home page loading kind of slow and semi-occasional lags while searching, I didn’t have many complaints about the NUCs performance.
Installation: Migrating to the Nucleus One was extremely easy. It took less than 30 minutes from the time that I shut down the NUC and was streaming through the Nucleus. Backup restoration and HDD installation was simple. Everything was recovered and recognized on the very first boot.
Performance: The performance is clearly snappier, as suggested throughout this thread. However, I can’t say it is significantly better than the NUC 8i5 it replaced.
Final Thoughts (Opinion): It’s a beautiful branded device that works great and is priced appropriately. While the other DIY options were previously something to consider, due to being less expensive, the Nucleus One is kind of a “no-brainer” at this point. I can’t say that it is that much better than the NUCs many of us are running, but it sure is better looking. So for someone who is setting up their first Roon Core, or migrating their core from a Windows or MacOS machine, there is no better option in my opinion.
Either way, this little experience will end with my beloved Roon server working just as flawlessly as it did before and now I have another showpiece in the stack to show off. It’s a win-win I suppose.
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One thing I have often wondered, if you have a pretty flashy new Nucleus in your rack, would you still stream to a Roon endpoint (also in your rack) and thence to the rest of your equipment?
Surely the ideal Nucleus would be a server and a source device all in one? Perhaps with a decent low noise USB out one could then send to say a DDC and on to the rest of the gear?
Seems daft having such a glorious bit of kit tucked away in a cupboard somewhere?
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As it happens, I have my NUC attached to my AVR via HDMI for multichannel audio, and a RPi + RoPieee on the other side of the room feeding my Quad Atera + ESL57s for stereo…
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Just to add to the 7i5 to Nuke one discussion, the network port is probably a lot snappier, extremely beneficial if you’re an ARC user.
Absolutely. I am running right out of the Nucleus to a Schiit DAC for my main setup. All other zones stream to a Raspberry Pi with a HifiBerry DAC running HifiBerry’s Software.
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You know what would do it for me, a Nucleus with inputs… so I could connect a CD transport say, and then that could go through a Roon zone for EQ etc. Obviously without any GUI now playing type interface, but then why not, there is a CD player that goes and gets album from the interweb? 
I’ve had a NUC8i7BEH with the recommended 128GB of internal storage and the 8GB memory card operational since 2019. I’ve swapped out most of my other components (routers, cables, ONT) and had my portable units (Chord Mojo2 and Chord Poly) tested, and despite that, I’ve had unexplained dropouts that I documented in posts in the Roon Community, HeadFi, Synology support, and elsewhere (thank you all!!!).
The other night, I was listening to the Frederic Rzewski’s stunning album Coming Together / Attica / Les Moutons De Panurge:
when in the midst of Coming Together, Roon suddenly dropped the music forcing a reboot, but it took time before it (and I) recovered. An evening of music was dashed…
That got me thinking, of the issues I’ve had, maybe, just maybe it’s time to swap out the NUC for the Nucleus One. I don’t know if I’d get more reliable performance, both at home on WiFi, which I was using while listening to Rzewski, and using mobile hotspot with Roon ARC. I use my Chord Mojo2/Poly with both modes.
Any speculations? It’s a low risk as I could return the Nucleus One if I didn’t get some performance improvements.
Thanks for any guidance.
David
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WiFi can often be problematic, Roon recommends a cable from your “Roon server”
Edit: made the above conditional after some “it works fine for me” feedback
I never had these issues using Roon with WiFi.
I used a Chord Poly Mojo2 like @David_Weinberg too and a desktop headphone setup fed by a WiiM Pro Plus in WiFi mode, plus Roon bridge on a RPI 3b.
It was all very reliable.
Now I use LMS to the same endpoints, the bridge (dietpi) and WiiM run Squeezelite natively and the Poly Mojo2 DNLA (I never use it in hotspot mode), I still get no drops.
WiFi/network issues are blamed too often IMO.
When I was an IT consultant back in the Middle Ages 
the advice would always be the same… wire up everything then see if the problem persists!
That’s about the only way to rule out wifi, because one person’s WiFi is not the same as another’s, so many issues can affect it. 2.4 vs 5Ghz performance, interference from neighbours on the same channels, Roon housekeeping putting heavy loads on the system?
Wire everything that can be wired, especially Roon server to internet of course, which I’m sure you are already doing, then to the endpoint (my LUMIN is Ethernet wired to the NUC) then plug your Mojo into the endpoint however that can be achieved (USB if that’s all there is). Once you are wired back to the server then you can rule out wifi once and for all.
I see you are listening to your own files so that rules out streaming service disruption, which I’m pretty certain is my issue with Qobuz. So if you are wired and all evening you get no drop outs then Bingo - it’s time to debug your wifi.
If you still get issues then it has to be your server or Roon installation so yes, trying out a Nucleus seems a good idea - presuming you can send it back after it has been set-up and used in your system that is.
Edit: Just reread your post, I would stop using ARC as that’s another element to debug with all of its own router based complications. After confirming that all wired is ok then why not try your phone or tablet as a simple wifi Roon endpoint and plug the Mojo into that. I would get the chain as simple as possible as right now you are using the most error prone way to listen you could, so many wifi elements, all vying for airspace!
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By that, I take it you mean ‘Last Year’ 
The advice is still the same. That is why I have, currently unused, a 50m ethernet cable that I can use to run ethernet anywhere in the house (or garage, or garden). I have also found that I can connect a USB-C to Ethernet adaptor (usually used with my laptop PC) to my Pixel 6 phone and my Pixel Tablet and that works as well so I can pretty near always elliminate WiFi from the equation if the need arises.
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I only have one wired zone never any trouble with WiFi on all my others which are used more overall. Server is of course hardwired.