Nucleus with a Audio Alchemy DMP-1 [answered: it works]

I’m a little confused if I would benefit from adding a NUcleus to my system when I already have a music player in the Audio Alchemy DMP-1. I know the Nucleus works as my core, but other than not being connected to my computer is Nucleus doing mostly the same job as the DMP-1 (or an Auralic Aries, same idea) or am I missing something?

The Audio Alchemy DMP-1 and the Auralic Aries are both audio endpoints, and can not run the Roon Core.

https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks.html

Thanks, Danny. That part I do get. So the two would work with each other (the Nucleus and DMP-1) with the Nucleus being connected to my DAC or the DMP-1?

The DMP-1 is Roon Ready (https://www.elac.com/product/dmp-1/) – which means if it is on the network next to the Nucleus, the Nucleus will discover it and be able to play to it just fine.

The Aries is also Roon Ready, so same story there.

Both have SPDIF outputs, and USB outputs as well. If your DAC is USB, you can use the above two products, or you can just plug the USB port directly into the Nucleus and skip the above products.

So then the main advantage to having a Nucleus in a set up that also has the DMP-1 like I do is that the core is always on and ready and not dependent on the computer the core is currently on. Is that correct?

That’s one of the reasons.

There are many other advantages to Nucleus, such as not having to deal with operating system updates (Win10 and MacOS can be heavy handed at times), or other software interfering with Roon’s stability.

There are a ton of other things Nucleus just does “right”, which you can obviously replicate on your own, but then you’d just be building a custom OS/machine that does the same thing as Nucleus.

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Thanks, Danny. It’s clear to me now.

We just wrote up a quick blog post advertising the Nucleus White Paper if you want to check that out:

Thanks, I just saw that!

I’ve recently replaced a microRendu with a DMP-1 in one of my systems. It connects over the network to a Nucleus and feeds a Yggdrasil DAC. Using the AA PS-5 to power the DMP-1 as well. All work perfectly.

Hey Steve. THANK YOU. That is exactly the info I wanted. What are the benefits you’ve seen since adding the Nucleus to your system?

The Nucleus replaced a Mac Mini (late 2014) with 2.8GHz i5 w. 8GB memory, and 256GB SSD. No slouch. However, the Nucleus is simply a much better Roon server in many respects. Lower noise floor, top to bottom unraveling of music that feels more realistic, more dynamic, and it goes on and on from there. The better the source the better the resulting playback (that also applies to poor sources that show warts and all). I’ve got it sending its bits to my primary system along with the aforementioned DMP-1 as well as a desktop computer. Let me know if you want more details. All I can say is the Nucleus is an excellent addition to my system. Only bit of warning is take care when migrating from a prior Roon Core that you follow the steps outlined, so as to avoid recreating your library without all the edits you’ve made along the way.

Thanks again, Steve. I would have the Nucleus connected to the DMP-1 and the AA DDP-1, which is my DAC in the main system. I’ve got my core set up on an iMac 27" (2014) with 16GB of RAM. And I have my NAD DD390 and an Aries Mini connected in other rooms. Where do you keep your music? On a USB or NAS drive? I’m thinking of connecting a new NAS drive to my router and having it sync up to the Nucleus. What do you think?

I’m familiar with and use a DDP-1 in my desktop system. It’s used with the aforementioned microRendu (Sonore SignatureLPS).

My music is on QNAP NAS that’s wired, along with all other components via Ethernet into a Cisco 8-port smart switch. So, the Nucleus along with an Eero router and dCS Network Bridge (feeds a Berkeley Ref. 2 DAC via AES/EBU) all plug into the Cisco. Luckily this NAS is quiet using WD Red drives that I don’t hear at all while the music is playing as it’s about 12 feet away and behind one of the speakers.

I think yours is a good plan. Just avoid noisy NAS boxes if you’re considering, as I’ve done, co-locating in the same room.

3 posts were split to a new topic: Can I use a NAS w/ Nucleus?

5 posts were split to a new topic: Which Nucleus did you go with?

5 posts were split to a new topic: Can I use a HD attached to my router with Nucleus?