Nucleus+ Performance Issues with Large Music Library and Streaming Services (ref#V4V2EE)

Affected Product

Nucleus

Nucleus Model

Nucleus+ Rev B

Description of Issue

My nucleus plus runs very slow. I have to restart the machine every 5 days maximum in order to have a decent performance.
My library is about 100000 songs. I have a Tidal and qobuz subscription. When I bought it I had first tried the I3 model with the 4 gb of ram. I had the same problems so in order to have fast performance I bought the Nucleus+. But……. Same problems over and over again. For example when I try to scroll my library I m waiting for 30 seconds and more in order to see my albums. Or 15 seconds to change a song in the same album
Then I will have to make a restart. After that things go smooth for a day or two but then if I decide to add an album to my collection from let say qobuz or Tidal the nucleus freezes and it goes slower and slower and slower. Very bad performance from a machine that costs 3000 euros plus the 500 euros lifetime subscription plus the 800 euros for an ssd.

RAM & Internal Storage

8 gb of ram and an 8 tb ssd

Connected Audio Devices

At first a usb cable to use is as a streamer now only an Ethernet cable

Home Network Details

My Roon core is connected via Ethernet to my router modem which is a SERCOM SPEEDPORT PLUS. I have a tplink mesh network and a Dlink gigabyte switcher

@VANGELIS_TZANAVARIS, can you provide more details about your network configuration? Is it possible to connect your TP-Link mesh router to your ISP router/modem, and then connect the Nucleus Plus to the TP-Link mesh network? I am wondering if you are having network issues and I’m not sure the two routers are not interferring with each other.

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What client are you using?
As performance slows, have you tried: Settings - Library(?) - clear cache?
There is an artwork cache on your client which could be contributing to the slowness.

8gb RAM isn’t enough for a really big collection in my view. First step would be to go to 16gb then report back. In relative terms the extra memory should be cheap.

I live in Greece and my internet provider is Cosmote. I have used the clear cache function but it doesn’t help.

My network is configured as follows:

I have a Sercom Speedport ICP Router with 4 gigabit ports. The router runs on DHCP mode. On each port I have connected the following equipment:

  1. D-LINK SWITCH 8 ports
  2. NETGEAR 8 ports
  3. TP LINK MESH
  4. NUCLEUS +

The TP-LINK MESH is running in bridge mode, and that way it follows the DHCP addresses given by the ISP Router.

In one of the ports of the D-LINK Switch I have connected a Coctail XP50D as my main Roon end-point.

@VANGELIS_TZANAVARIS, thank you. This seems to be a good configuration, but can you confirm that all LAN IP addresses in your network, including those devices connected to the TP-Link mesh network, are all on the same subnet (aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd where all devices share the same aaa.bbb.ccc numbers)?

I also believe your RAM may not be enough for a large library, but want to eliminate network issues also.

This is something I intend to do, still haven’t done it since I m not sure if Roon os more ram than 8 gb.

Can you suggest a specific model o ram for upgrade that has been tested and worked?

Any RAM that is specified for a Gen 8 Intel Motherboard. One suggestion from a couple of years ago is found here

I would get the 2x8gb set for 16 gb. That way you are sure that both memory sticks are compatible with each other.

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How about those Kingston Fury Impact 32GB DDR4 RAM with 2 Modules (2x16GB) speed 2666?

@VANGELIS_TZANAVARIS I’m no expert at this however my nucleus+ spec is similar to yours with 100k+ tracks. Also 8gb ram and 8TB ssd. I have no response issues. If I may… I would suggest take a closer look at your network configuration.

All my devices have the same subnet mask. iPads, android devices , my streamer and my nucleus. I forgot to mention that both the streamer and the nucleus have Static IP. I thought that a library with 100000 tracks is easy to be handled. Especially for nucleus+. If ram is my issue then everything is ok and my problems are over. But I’ m not so sure that this is the way. Should I buy something like this just to be sure? Kingston Fury Impact 32GB DDR4 RAM with 2 Modules (2x16GB) and speed 2666

Roon repeatedly state that if it isn’t crashing, a ROCK/Nucleus doesn’t need any more RAM. User experience may vary however…

Large libraries have other performance issues which Roon hasn’t got to the bottom of yet.

Look at what is in there and search for the same. The Kingston memory you mention should be fine (SODIMM) but you don’t need 32.

@Anthony_B an additional 8gb stick won’t hurt and should be cheap to do. After that we are back to dismantling the network and rebuilding it as simply as possible.

Agreed in computing in general but in this case we are dealing with advice from the designer of this appliance. Roon have stated it doesn’t swap out memory, so when it runs out of RAM it crashes. Additional RAM just remains unused. Of course this could change if ROCK/Nucleus software was changed to accommodate it. The advice would then be different.

So that means that even Roon doesn’t know why my nucleus doesn’t work as it should ? And if the ram isn’t the solution what left for me to do…

So that means that even Roon doesn’t know why my nucleus doesn’t work as it should ? And if the ram isn’t the solution what left for me to do…

Your nucleus is on all the time 24/7?

Do you mean to imply that you turn yours off?