Nucleus vs Nucleus+ DSP

Roon Software Discussion Nucleus
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I wonder if multichannel users or @danny could comment on current hardware capabilities for two use cases. They are

  1. Playing multichannel DSD64 files with convolution and other processes like bass management. The product page suggests that the Nucleus+ should be able to do this, but I know that @mitr ran into some limitations when he reviewed the previous version of the Nucleus+ two years ago. Is anyone using a Nucleus+ for multichannel and DSP with or without problems?

  2. Playing multichannel PCM files with convolution and other processes. Am I correct in understanding that the base Nucleus would be enough?

Currently Iā€™m using a NUC6i5 to play DSD64 files to an AVR, with all DSP other than DSD to PCM conversion done in the receiver. Iā€™d like to get something fanless just to eliminate noise for now, but that will be capable of taking on more DSP in the future. All cases would be for a single zone with no upsampling. Library size is not large enough to be a factor.

Iā€™d appreciate any input.

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I think that you will be able to do some processing of DSD64 at 5.0/5.1 on the Nucleus+. Whether a particular configuration works will depend on what exactly youā€™re doing, the size and topology of the filters, etc. Roon gives you powerful raw tools, but itā€™s easy to write checks that your hardware canā€™t cash, and with multichannel, it is almost always necessary to do some experimentation.

Keep in mindā€“you can always disable ā€œNative DSD Processingā€ mode if Roon canā€™t do it in native mode, and it will fall back to DSD->PCM, which will put heavier processing within reach.

For PCM, itā€™s a pretty safe bet that Nucleus+ will do what you need. Nucleus may too, but since DSP and multichannel are in the conversation, I would recommend going with Nucleus+ to be safe.

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