Roon and my next step

To add to Geoff’s comment:

Plugging a DAC into the Nucleus might work, it might not. That said, I don’t think it’s a supported scenario. I might be wrong though.

@Womaz @Geoff_Coupe

I have seen nothing to suggest that a direct USB connection is an unsupported scenario. The Nucleus is basically ROCK on a NUC, with some adjustments and simplifications, and those certainly support direct USB connection. Or it is probably more correct to say that ROCK is the Roon team offering Nucleus for DIY-ers.

I have tried USB with no problems, even though I mostly have networked gear.

And btw, I use WiFi for some zones, with no problems either.

As a general statement, there are people who turn optimization guidelines into absolutist rules. Relax. Driving teachers say you should hold the steering wheel at 9 and 3, and sit close enough that you can drape the wrist over the top of the steering wheel, and turn by crossing the arms, not shuffling, and they point to race car drivers doing this. But we wouldn’t say “the car won’t work unless you hold the wheel at 3 and 9”.

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sonicTranspoter i5 might be a good option. It’s fanless unlike an NUC.

Did you try running the Devialet 200 directly over the network? I think it’s supported directly in Roon now.

Sorry guys I am now a little confused. Are you saying the Nucleus is not designed to be used straight into my Devialet?

I did and I didn’t like the sound quality as the bass was too much for my room. USB connection was much better with a nice tight bass.

Not sure how I would get one of those up in Newcastle and I have a Melco to trade in

I will have a look though

No, we are not saying that (or at least, most of us aren’t :grinning:). Even the Nucleus Owner’s Guide states that you can attach your audio devices directly via USB or HDMI…

Yes, you are (wrong). :wink: Check out the Nucleus Owners Guide

Well that’s good, but opens them up to why doesn’t my device work or why doesn’t it do native dsd256 or dsd512, as my device supports it. Not knowing only on windows.

I have to listen to all the advice on here and weigh it all up as I wont get the chance to audition.
So this is where I am. I have ruled the NUC out as it may be noisy and I would like support incase it goes wrong. It has to be in the hifi room so thats now not really an option i wish to consider.
I think the consensus on here seems to be the Zenith over the Nucleus plus as its designed solely to be used into a DAC via USB. etc etc.
I am trying not to get too hung up on the spec as I think that is what i am doing. I dont want to have to replace it again in 2 or 3 years time if Roon develops, and already the Zenith cant perform some of the tasks. Although I wont use many of the Roon upsampling features…help me out here guys :grinning:

The Zenith is the choice of a total novice like me I think, but I like the idea of a product built by Roon for Roon

I was in the same boat as you - I have a Melco but, once I adopted Roon, I wanted a Roon Core server so that I could sit it in my main system and play directly into the DAC for optimal sound quality. The reduction in noise that this achieves compared to pumping it through a PC is quite significant imo.

I bought a Zenith and it sounds very good. I use all the Roon DSP functionality apart from upsampling which I don’t need. The Zenith runs it all with no problem. For one example, I stream Roon to a MojoPoly and I use the crossfeed and EQ functions in Roon together with no problems. Multi room is no problem. I tried upscaling just out of interest to test the Zenith and, again, I had no performance issues. I can’t comment on long term use of upscaling as I never use it.

I too wondered about having sufficient horsepower but have not yet encountered any issues whatsoever. Hope that helps.

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Thanks Malcolm that helps a lot as I am favouring the Zenith route more and more. I am the same as you I wont be upsampling I doubt, but nay use DSP for headphone use.
Thanks for the post, always good to hear from someone who was in same position as I am right now

Both the Zenith and the Nucleus are solid choices.

Looking at a single box solution (Core and Output in one unit) then the Zenith has a better PSU out of the box.

The Nucleus certainly supports a direct connection to a DAC by USB, but would need the upgraded 19v linear PSU (one is on the way) to match the Zenith PSU specs as a single box solution.

Personally I prefer to separate Core and Output, which makes the Core PSU much less important. I use a microRendu with an UpTone LPS-1 UltraCapacitor power supply as a network endpoint.

Either the Zenith or Nucleus would serve your use case well and I haven’t compared cost. If you can get a linear PSU for the Nucleus at the same price or less than the Zenith then I’d steer towards the Nucleus for the convenience of ROCK.

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Thanks for the post I have more or less decided on the Zenith as it’s the ideal one box solution and ready to go. I am sort of sensing the Nuceus not really meant to be a one box solution, and ideally it’s to be used with a music player . Just from my reading of this forum and posts

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The Zenith has an Ethernet output port so that you can use another device as an endpoint and this was an important consideration for me. Technology is changing quickly and this gives you the option of using an endpoint at some future point if there is benefit from doing so. The Ethernet output also benefits from the low noise environment that the Zenith provides.

I tried my mRendu and Auralic Aries as endpoints connected via the Zenith. I also tested a dCS Network Bridge, but I preferred the direct USB connection to the DAC from the Zenith. Nonetheless, the fact that I can use a different endpoint in future is still an important option to have for the flexibility and a degree of future proofing.

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Thanks again Malcolm. I did not know that so yes that gives a little more flexibility later in if I wish to use it.
I am doing this solely to get Roon and I have had a couple of small issues lately where my IPad app did not connect to the Core. I followed guidelines and looked at the enable " accept connections from remotes" button and it was set correctly. I then just toggled it on and off and it worked . All strange but that is twice it has happened since I started Roon. Also more annoying is that if I favourite a track in Tidal its adds the album to my collection. I really do not like that so I guess I am seeing how I progress with Roon. I doubt I will be able to give it up now that I have it but I do have a 3 month trial.
Thanks for your posts

3 posts were split to a new topic: Favourited Tracks in Tidal not to appear as Albums in Roon

I think perhaps you might want to read the Whitepaper:

Ok then I am sensing it is designed to be used in a system where it’s not near the Hifi equipments This is what Roon recommend so this has led me to look at alternatives to nucleus I think. Thanks for your input here though

A big thank you to all who have contributed to this thread, it has been very helpful.
I have come to the conclusion that I will go for Lifetime Room membership in May when my 3 month trial finishes. I have had a couple of issues with Roon, but overall I love it and it seems like they are pretty customer focused, so I trust them to develop their software in the future too. So I think it is £500 or do we get a cheaper rate here in the UK as the exchange rate? No idea.
I am going to put on hold my purchase of additional equipment as I was just not totally convinced by any of the products and I need to find out more about them. Also my gut feeling is that there will be a lot more Roon server products come to the fore over say the next 6 months or so. I also have the temporary solution of my lap top at present. It is not ideal but it can act as a stop gap.
Tidal & Roon brilliant, Roon without Tidal for me would be pretty pointless and there are appears to be a few issues with Roon and Tidal recently and they appear to be increasing , I know I am only going off Forums but I have read a lot and I think sitting tight is my best option for now.
So I will go for Lifetime Roon membership, but not prepared to change my set up just yet.

Regards Tidal, no one posts ‘Tidal worked fine today’ so it is easy to get a distorted view.

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