Processing power necessary for DSP (EQ) use

Roon Software Discussion
1

I’d like to have Roon installed outside of my PC. Two options, either the NAS (Synology DS220+) I already have, or an Intel NUC I would need to purchase.

I do use Roon’s DSP functions, mainly parametric EQ at this time, for my different sets of speakers and headphones.Convolution EQ and multi-room playback are future possible uses.

  • I gather from previous discussions menttioning my NAS that its processing power is going to fall short. Is that correct or is it worth attempting?

  • Ruling that option out as I don’t see a need otherwise to replace my NAS, I would need to purchase a NUC PC. I’d like to keep my budget under $300. At that price in my country, there’s an Intel i3 model mentionned in Roon’s list of recommendations. I was wondering if the i3’s processing power will be enough to handle my EQ needs.

3

I don’t know about a NAS, but a NUC can do it. DSP and EQ aren’t that resource heavy. Unless you are playing back DSD (which apparently you aren’t).

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4

If the memory the stock memory of 2 gig? You might want to look into adding memory to bring it up to the max (6 gig).
From the Synology data sheet:

DS220+ comes with 2 GB DDR4 onboard and can support up to 6 GB by adding one optional DDR4 non-ECC 4 GB SO-DIMM.

Others have used NAS with no issues, but like you know, the DSP you use the more you may need a more powerful CPU.

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5

Synology 1522+ has no problem doing PCM processing (DSD may be too slow, depending on the rate) but it has quite a bit faster processor. This might work with extra memory, but being outside of Roon’s recommended specs you’d be on your own if things do not work.

Since it costs nothing to throw Roon on a NAS you already have anyway, you could certainly try it out, and move to a miniPC if it does not work well.

6

What are your EQ needs and how many tracks are in your library.

7
  • I’m applying 4 to 9 bands of PEQ to all of my “transducers” (speakers or headphones), in other words I’m likely to use EQ every time I listen to music
  • My library is less than 10k tracks
8

Then an i3 should work.

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9

I have run a similarly equipped NAS for years with roon. These dual-core Celerons do not give the most reactive or snappy experience but they are absolutely fine for your purpose.

My system got sluggish when my library was exceeding 75k+ tracks. 10 or 20k is no problem at all, and neither is heavy DSP/EQ use on up to 4 zones simultaneously unless you expect intense cross coding such as PCM752>DSD512 or alike.

The only thing: Get yourself a 4GB bar and max out the RAM to 6GB. It is really worth it.

10

That’s good news. I wasn’t sure what was meant by “heavy DSP usage” or similar words in the reference notes. For sure, I don’t do any upsampling.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies

11

Here’s my I3 NUC status right now, running Roon & using Crossfeed & PEQ

Screenshot 2024-01-07 21.26.28
Screenshot 2024-01-07 21.26.28381×704 54 KB

Screenshot 2024-01-07 21.25.32
Screenshot 2024-01-07 21.25.321322×178 17.8 KB

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12

Fantastic :+1:

13

Keep in mind that the library size will also have an influence , personally I went (for 140k tracks)

NUC 10i7 TALL Version to add HHD, SSD (the most modern at the time)
RAM 32 Gb (16 Gb is probably fine but RAM is cheap)
SSD 256 for OS (smallest realistically available)
SSD 4Tb Storage

“Go big” , the additional cost is not that big between i3 and i7 .You will add more content no matter what you think . Tidal and Qobuz tracks count the same as local tracks.

Depending on your NAS , many users have issues with underspec’ed NAS. Maybe add an internal drive in the NUC and use your existing NAS to back up your files , it’s good at that.

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