Hi,
I`m running the roon core on a PC - it works very fine!
The question that I have is: Is there a sound advantage (sound quality) when i switch to a nucleus?
Maybe someone has made the change and can say something (sound quality) about it.
I don’t use the PC as a roon endpoint!
thanks for any opinion!
I run Roon on a NUC running ROCK. Previously it was running on a PC. I use networked endpoints, i.e., none connected to the core. There is no audible difference between NUC and PC, and my guess, the Nucleus, which is built on the Intel NUC. Moreover, Roon makes no claims about improved sound quality when using the Nucleus; besides, it is silent, and you may use it in your listening room.
…thank you for your replay! I have a zero noise PC - and my office is my high end room – the PC is running the whole day 
… all my stuff is in the basement (multi room) and makes no noise in the office.
So it seemed that I can stay with my PC solution and spend my money for other improvements
There should be no difference in sound quality. Even if there is a difference, it would be insignificant, by no means commensurate with the financial investment.
I installed ROCK on one on my audio PCs that has all sorts of mods
e.g. separate LPS with shielded lines for 5v to SSDs (x2) and 12v to Mobo (x2), passive cooling, 3M RFI sheets, Paul Pang cables etc etc etc sitting on a Mana Acoustics rack
I ran a trial account of Roon vs my Nucleus, so flicking between the two was very easy and quick, allowing me fairly closely synchronised track by track comparison from the same switch into my network. I did this for the trial period over several sessions
While I found the PC gave slightly more detail and separation, it actually shrank the soundstage depth vs my Nucleus (which also has dedicated LPS and 3M and is wall mounted in a separate room to the system)
On balance, with its 4 LPS and dedicated rack - I decided I’d stick with the Nucleus as it’s far less hassle and I prefer the overall sound
Anyone want to buy a load of Audio PC gear 
Has anyone moved from having Roon server on a stable high-end pc to getting a dedicated Roon Nucleus One as server? Did you get better SQ ?
I’ve got a Nucleus
I had a dedicated JPlay Control/Audio double PC setup. They had separate LPS for 12v and 5v, passive, fully shielded on everything, Pang SATA, 3M RFI sheets etc etc
I tried ROCK on one out of interest; it was a bit better than the Nucleus in some aspects, but frankly, the Nucleus and LPS (mounted to my garage wall) was just easier to live with than the PC and 4xLPS on a rack
I returned to the Nucleus, pleased to have at least scratched the itch 
I have used no less than five different computers as roon core and they all sound 100% identical. Put you money elsewere, there is zero sound quality gain with a nucleus. It is just a nuc in a fancier box, there is absolutely nothing special about it
The reason for getting the Nucleus One is to avoid the effort of maintaining a PC (updates, other demands on resources) as well as size and noise. It behaves like an always on appliance and makes the business of playing your music less complicated. There is a possibility that a less busy device might also contribute to SQ but it might not.
Either way a One will be compact, quiet, reliable and come with enhanced support via these pages.
If you connect an external DAC directly to the computer running Roon Server, you may get subtly different sound quality. However, since you have expressed an interest in sound quality, I suggest following Roon Labs’ recommendations:
They wrote the software, so they should know how to configure it for good sound quality. 
There’s a very active “bits-are-bits” crowd in these pages who will disagree, and that’s fine. Each person has their own experiences.
I also posted a while back about a MOCK (My Own Core Kit) solution that’s super easy to set up, tiny, and works beautifully. My informal Roon benchmarks show that it’s about 80% as fast as my 11th gen Intel Core i7 NUC:
Unlike the Nucleus, it has an internal fan, but the computer is so small, you can put it anywhere. It just needs power and Ethernet. Shove it behind your ISP’s router and forget about it.
With Roon Server moved out of your listening room, the sound quality discussion moves back to your choice of endpoint. There are a huge number of certified 3rd party options here:
Lots of fun DIY projects too, including RoPieee, DietPi, GentooPlayer, and AudioLinux.
Hi, I’ve merged your question into this existing topic … all that can be said / discussed has been in this topic and the many other that spring up here.
I recommend reading this topic and also searching the forum for “Roon sound quality” and/or “bits are bits”. Be warned it’s a very contentious topic with polarised views, typically resulting in the moderators closing the topic as it descends down the rabbit hole.
That doesn’t really provide much reassurance, especially considering that Roon’s software design doesn’t seem to prioritize user experience. For example, it lacks proper process priority handling, which can lead to performance slowdowns, even on very high-end hardware. If such fundamental aspects aren’t addressed properly, it’s hard to have full confidence in their claims about sound quality. Overall, the software appears to be inefficiently written in several key areas.
I’ve not experienced any issues that were sufficiently impactful to reduce the value of my Roon Subscription to a level that’s below what I pay for it. When that happens, I’ll move to some other solution.
Unless there is growing anectotal subjective evidence to the contrary.