Simple question for the geniuses at Roon. Will there be any significant performance improvement from placing a hard drive directly in my ROCK NUC vs keeping the library on a NAS on the network? (all ethernet wired items with GBit ethernet.)
How is your DAC connected?
I have tried both and they both work equally well. I had DSD rips on the local drive and moving them to a new NAS when I had the space made no discernable difference.
I have the NUC USB direct-connected to either a Peachtree Nova (DAC)/Schiit Bifrost through an audioquest Jitterbug. The Synology NAS is connected on the same wired LAN via 1000 Ethernet. The NAS uses a pair of SSDs in RAID 1. The library serves both the Roon server and Sonos for those in my home that care enough about music to not just use the phone speakers but not enough to to use Roon. Lol.
Thanks for the update.
As your DAC is directly connected to the NUC … I’d not recommend fitting a HDD (noisy / electrical noise) however installing a SSD would be fine.
If your NUC was out of the listening room and the DAC was connected via a network, then I’d say a HDD would be fine.
That said, where your files are now, on a hardwired NAS, is fine, this is how my system is setup (though I also have a LAN connected DAC).
Since you already have a NAS, I reccomend using that for your music library.
That way, your music library available on your network without the ROCK NUC running.
That might be practical for many reasons.
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Great. I’m totally satisfied with audio performance I was just curious about speed. I never shut the NUC down. Everything works and works well so it’s time to declare victory and stop trying to shave milliseconds. Pulling up Sonos FEELS faster for most tasks although the difference is probably negligible.
It’s funny how perception of friction has changed. I remember when having a cassette player that could fast forward to the next song automagically seemed the acme of sophistication.
Thanks for the advice.
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My first boom box had this. It’s been downhill ever since.
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I like having the music stored locally and just using the NAS as a backup copy. But, either way works. But, I am also an advocate for not having the Core be in the same room as audio playback.
My Core is in the basement, in my Den, I have an HTPC setup as a Roon end point that feeds a Peachtree Nova 300, either directly via USB, or by taking a hop out USB to a Schiit DAC and back to the Peachtree via Analogue RCA. And I also have a DigiOne feeding the Peachtree via SPDIF. So three ways from Roon to the Peachtree.
I didn’t realize I had a doppelgänger. To quote Dwight from The Office: “Identity theft is NOT a joke, Jim!” You’re the better me though. You have a Peachtree 300 to my 220SE. And I only have a (broken at present) Schiit Mimbi.
At the moment, I have a Mimby. Which I am exploring the NOS aspect. As usual, I prefer some music in each of the different ways.