It seems that making Roon Server run before Windows sign-in page is not as easy as I thought.
There are workarounds like auto sign-in, autolock, etc, but which do not completely address the issue, at least not for me, as they still compromise on security.
To avoid all this hassle l’ll be moving to ROCK installed on a fanless NUC and install Bridge on the Windows PC which is connected to the DAC.
It will not bother me as much having to sign in occasionally to windows after an update, if I want to listen to music locally, but at least I’ll have Roon Core full time accessible all the time with no surprises for when I’m not at home.
The disadvantage will be having one more device consuming energy 24/7.
I think, if your fanless NUC is powered by a good LPS, and connecting it to the DAC directly, that will produce better sound than using a Bridge in Windows PC.
Also, you may make the USB cable directly connecting to the usb header on the NUC MB to bypass the usb plug.
I have been running my room core on a Windows pro pc for the last 3-4 years. All setup to be as automatic as possible. Using the pro version helps as I can remote login if there is an issue around a Windows update, I think in this time I have had to log in to the pc half a dozen times… The PC is in a separate room so no issues with noice etc - it’s a standard Dell mini tower PC.If I was starting from scratch then I would probably use a nuc with ROCK but at the moment there is no real reason to change.
It won’t make any difference because a NUC is a computer and anyway it has lots of little internal SMPSs to provide different voltages for its various subsystems.
If you want to be sure, isolate it from the DAC via the network as Roon recommends.
But if you want to get rid of too much money and want to read 1000 posts about it, see here:
I personally sit on the side of the fence of those who think that a well implemented system can not possibly introduce sound degradation in the digital domain, so while I honestly appreciate everyone that cares to share his experience or opinion, I really can’t see how feeding a NUC through a LPS could bring any improvement.
That’s why I never mentioned about SQ differences before.
It’s strange to me that one can’t hear such significant sonic difference. Actually it’s truly a bless.
If one would like to try LPS, please don’t go for some lousy one, and so to the DC cables and plugs
This kind of discussion about LPS, USB cables, and so on, should be better posted on other specific topics already existing.
Please let’s not go off topic here.
Anyway, my mind is pretty much set now on trying ROCK / NUC, also thanks to the experiences here shared which I appreciate very much.
