Roon core on Mac mini 2020 with macOS Catalina

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My setup is as follows:

  • NAS hosting my FLAC library, connected to the LAN via ethernet
  • Mac mini (server) i7 late 2012 running Roon server on Catalina, connected to the LAN via WiFi
  • Node 2i as Roon endpoint connected to the LAN via ethernet and attached (digitally) to the amplifier
  • The system plays fine with both the NAS and my Qobuz subscription. Never had a single issue: no instability, no disruption, no latency, no memory overload. Sound quality is perfect.

There may be cheaper options but you can safely implement this one.

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Mac OS is getting more and more bloated over the years. On the other hand, more services, more possibilities and complexer security are a fact now a days. I still prefer 10.6 snow leopard and used it until 2018, but that is simply not an option anymore.
Mac is phoning home for a lot of services. If you don’t like that then disable those services.

Here is a start:
https://gist.github.com/pwnsdx/1217727ca57de2dd2a372afdd7a0fc21

importent notice.

  1. this script can disable your system.
  2. i cannot help

Mike, thank you. I think I try a Intel NUC 10 with i7 - 10710U, 1 TB internal SSD, 32 GB RAM and Windows 10 preinstalled. All in all for Euro 1030.00 I will download the sinny core only version only.
Nice day, Lambert

You will need Rock with a NUC, not the Mac server software. Good luck :wink:

I am the creator of the thread you are quoting, the issue is NOT Catalina, the issue is Roon consuming the 100% of the GPU resources, happens to Mojave users as well as reported don’t remember if in my thread or another that was merged into it.

If I was @Lambert_Brunner I won’t move a thing to MacOS until Roon fixes the CPU (High CPU Usage on Mac Mini 2018) and GPU issues.

I’m quoting people who stated irregularities mentioned in your thread - a); constant issues with macOS Catalina been reported all across all community boards, as well as the issues I’m relating to - high CPU usage, high RAM usage, power consumption increasing — eg https://www.techradar.com/how-to/macos-catalina-problems-how-to-fix-the-most-common-issues - b); The fact that haven’t run into somebody’s reporting such doesn’t mean that it never happened (survivorship boas).

Your techradar link is pure sensationalist clickbait rubbish, and “quoting people” doesn’t make your argument anymore plausible than my arguably “survivorship boas”. But whatever… in a couple of weeks there’ll be an all new macOS release (Big Sur) to rubbish.

Roon says a fix is on the way…

yup, super exited about hearing from a potential fix!
thanks @mikeb

I use beta Catalina 10.15.6 on my 2012 MAC Mini and it works FLAWLESSLY! I run it on 12VDC with a 1GB SSD and a 1TB HDD for back up! 2.6GHz i7 Quad Core with 16 GB RAM. It’s dedicated to Roon.

This setup has allowed me to enjoy many many more hours of music than when I had crappy players like Audirvana and Pure Music! These players could not hold Roon’s Jock…IMHO!

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The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/12/20908567/apple-macos-catalina-breaking-apps-32-bit-support-how-to-prepare-avoid-update

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/dky6ja/why_macos_catalina_is_not_apples_finest_moment/

And numerous others

If you don’t consider ’survivorship bias’ as a valid argument, additionally can’t spell it right, we have nothing to talk about. Cheers!

Well, it was you who spelled it wrong. You were just cited by @mikeb

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Hello Mike, do I connect the Intel NUC via WLAN or LAN Cable to the router? Or does it not matter?

Thanks so much for your support!

Lambert

Dunno how long Iv had Roon for now but my Mac mini has worked flawlessly with it. I already had it so I’ll agree something else could be cheaper if you are starting out. I don’t know why some people are so negative at times when there is so much evidence (several people’s current experiences) saying otherwise.

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this looks to had been fixed by 610 @Lambert_Brunner :partying_face:

Mine did too. Albeit only for the trial period. I did comment in another thread that if the only thing on the mini was the roon core, then it’s an expensive way to go to run the core. I use my mini for many things, so for me, putting the core on there for the two week trial seemed logical.

Sheldon

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I also use Roon (with HQPlayer) on a base model 2020 Mac Mini. All runs flawlessly, even with only 8 GB of memory. I had initially planned to upgrade the memory, but have seen no need for it.

macOS is Unix based and in my experience very reliable:-)

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Don’t install Linux (Ubuntu or something similiar) unless your MacOS is no longer supported by Apple.
Your MacOS is much more stable than any Linux flavor out there, and you will bring lots of pain upon yourself doing it.

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