I am realizing that many people don’t let ROCK core directly drive the USB DAC. What is the point of using ROCK then? Doesn’t all the “purified” signal get contaminated by the receiving end (streamer, network player, etc.)? I’m not trying to be cynical; I’m just genuinely curious as to how one would benefit from ROCK without directly feeding the signal to the DAC.
I’m using a Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital connected directly to a NUC7i7 running ROCK for my headphone rig.
Works great. 
I use ROCK mostly so I have a central server for all my DACs and endpoints without having to turn on my main computers. I can also put the ROCK where I want it, away from my main audio system.
I understand that, but the same function can be done with any Mac or Windows machines. I have a MacPro (and a Mac Mini before) that I left on all the time. My question is, did you try to compare and notice any improvement in sound quality using ROCK?
Rock is optimised to run Roon core and nothing more unlike other operating systems, it is only running processes that are needed for Roon. This in itself creates a simple stable platform regardless of whether you connect via ethernet or usb. It’s potentially less noisy than normal os but it’s still a computer and they are inherently noisey things especially the CPU. It’s upto you to decide what works best for you. Some systems are more prone to noise than others.
While people on community are vocal about certain opinions (such as electrical noise impacting audio), they are not the majority overall.
I can tell you that USB devices connected directly to computers are far more common than networked audio endpoints.
There is another benefit of using USB with ROCK or Nucleus – usually, USB is more stable than network when working with an appliance. This is usually because the network can go up and down (routes, cables, infrastructure being used for multiple purposes, bad agents on the network, etc…), while the USB cable is specially purposed for this one use case.
However, USB can be far more unstable when you often turn on/off machines or plug/unplug the cable due to idiosyncrasies of MacOS/Windows/Linux and damage done to cables from over-use.
What we’ve seen through support incidents across tens of thousands of Roon members, and personal experience of many members of the Roon Team is:
- networked endpoints are awesome when you are using a computer that often comes and goes (due to powering on/off or being a laptop that gets moved)
- USB endpoints are awesome in always-on appliance type installs
this isn’t to say that one is better than the other, but the above is an observation on USB vs networked installs in different scenarios.
At home, I have a ROCK machine with 1 zone via USB and 1 zone via network. Neither really goes offline, but the networked zone did go out a few times when my housekeeper unplugged the Eero in the bedroom.
At the office, I don’t have a dedicated Roon Core and instead use my macbook pro laptop. Here, the convenience of just having always-on networked endpoints is great, with no USB cables to deal with, break, or confuse the drivers on MacOS.
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I did not notice any sound quality advantages or disadvantages with ROCK vs when I had my core on my main Windows PC. I switched to ROCK for the convenience of not having another, IMO, high maintenance OS to deal with and the ability to easily maintain the ROCK from any of my other access points on the network.
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I have used both networked and USB connection and not noticed any difference, on my better devices.
@danny Thanks. But how do you get Roon to work in your office? Is it under the same subnet?
I think he indicated he uses his work laptop to run Roon/Roonserver as a core, so it is all local to work.
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2 independent Roon setups – we don’t have good a multi-location/library solution yet.