ROCK or Roon under W11 or dual boot

Roon Software Discussion ROCK
1

I bought a Asus NUC13i7ANK with 32GB RAM and 500GB NVMe m.2 2280 SSD.

I have 3 possibilities:

  1. ROCK on the 500GB SSD

  2. Keep W11 and install ROON server

  3. Buy B-key SATA 2242 memory and install ROCK and make the NUC dual boot.

HiFi set: 100 mbit/sec Internet connection, MyCloud WD NAS in my network, NAD C658 streamer, Purifi EVAL1 ET400A class D amplifier, Thiel CS2.4 loudspeakers.

Most FLAC music files on the NAS.

What do you suggest?

Thanks a lot!

2

Do you need the NUC for anything else? If not, I would scratch the dualboot, what would it be for? Rebooting into ROCK when you want to listen to music sounds like a terrible hassle.

Installing ROCK or Roon Server on Win11 are useful options and it depends on what you want:

  • ROCK is more or less zero maintenance, but you don’t have any view into management aspects (RAM use, CPU use, disk health, etc). On the other hand, in my experience there never was a need for that, and I like that it just does its thing. Others hate when they can’t check these things if they feel something is weird. Plus, it will be only for Roon and you can’t do anything else with it.
  • Installing Windows causes some overhead with frequent updates and the results, such as firewall rules getting deleted or the danger that random updates by Microsoft break something (more frequent recently because of Microsoft’s new love for damn vibecoding). But if you are familiar with this and don’t mind, Windows gives you more insight into what’s going on than ROCK. You have enough RAM for memory to be not an issue. And you can install other things if you like, such as Plex or whatever.

It’s really up to you and nobody can tell you what’s better for your own needs.

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Right question for @WJW … If you don’t need it for anything else, I think ROCK is the best option, as it’s an optimized Linux distro built specifically for Roon. Your files stay on the NAS, and the configuration is minimal.

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Thanks a lot. I will install ROON beside W11. Then my next point. I show my network. You can see my network and the position of the NAS with my (flac) music files. I can also transfer the music files to my NUC of course, when that should be better.

When I leave the music files on the NAS, where do I need to put the NUC with the ROON server? After the same router as the NAS is? Or doesn’t it matter in the network? I will hardwire the NUC of course. Thanks for your answer.

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The physical configuration of the network matters less than the logical one. Why are there two routers, and have you configured a single subnet across both of them? (Did you enable DHCP only on one of the routers?)

With Roon, the server and the endpoints must be on the same subnet. If it’s all one subnet, then it doesn’t matter too much where you plug in the devices, but traffic overhead is the least if all devices that should talk a lot to each other are on the same switch (or same router, in your case)

6

Thanks a lot for the explanation.
Router 1 is the main router where the internet comes in (living room). The NAD C658 is connected there.
From router 1, one cable goes to another room where router 2 is located.
The WD NAS is connected to router 2, and I plan to connect the NUC with Windows 11 and Roon Server there as well.

I need to check: router 2 is currently acting as a router. Should I disable DHCP on router 2 and use it as an access point so everything is on the same subnet?

Would that be the recommended setup for Roon?

…..just checked my LAN …. It looks like everything is in the same subnet.

Tomorrow I will install the NUC and connect it after router 2 and will check my LAN again.

The problem with this (old) house is that wiring from room to room is not so easy. So router 1 is downstairs and router 2 is upstairs where also the NAS is located.

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