If I understand your system, your Naim Uniti Atom connects to the network via ethernet and is RoonReady, correct? That would give you the option of putting your NUC anywhere you want on your ethernet network. My NUC is in my basement and connects to my DAC in the Den upstairs via ethernet input. No noise concerns at all.
The nice thing about the NUC/ROCK is you just about never have to do anything with it, so you can pretty much stash it away and forget about it.
I have an i7 NUC with ROCK installed, I have never noticed its fan despite that I have a lot of DSP going on the NUC - even on some of the hotter days of this summer I havn’t noticed it.
There are also various after market fanless cases available, but I cannot comment on their merits as I am using the standard case.
@grossmsj my atom is connected to internet via wifi. Do you think an Ethernet connection may be better than wifi? And yes the atom is Roon ready, I think that’s why it’s showing up on the Roon server which is awesome. I live in a studio apartment. So will have to hide the NUC somewhere .
My Atom works fine on WiFi though ethernet is recommended, if you can connect it up. I also run a standard NUC and it is very quiet.
If you are going for a NUC try it standard and then look to quieten it if you can’t live with it.
If the wifi signal is very stable, it doesn’t matter. If you get dropouts, you’ll need ethernet.
I was not sure if the Atom supported it, but nothing beats an answer from a user like Ged who has the equipment.
One thing is for sure, you definitely want the Nuc on ethernet.
I am very happy with my 8th generation NUC running ROCK. I recommend you this setup, because Windows is always performing undesired background stuff (updates, reboots, etc).
Regarding the fan noise, I can hear it especially during summer, when temperature is higher; obviously this is not an issue if you place your core in a separate room.
No, extra bells and whistles aren’t there. That is a fact. Does their absence actually improve sonic performance? Enough to make up for the lost functionality of a full-function computer and the higher price of the specialty device? That seems to be more a matter of opinion, as far as I can tell.
If you are easily able to try wired Ethernet, try it and see if anything changes. In my setup running a wired connection was non-trivial - so I didn’t. The latest Naim streamer boards are less fussy and the ND5 was fine using WiFi.
What did make a difference (to connection stability) was persuading the laptop running Roon to use the 5GHz band on the WiFi.
M.2 is the form factor of the hard drive. It looks like a tiny circuit board, rather than an SSD. This is a good thing.
Optane memory is (for the most part) an Intel marketing ploy. It has no real benefits, especially for Roon, and is more expensive.
I’d get the regular M.2 w/ the 3.0GHz. i3. The i3 only has 2 cores as opposed to the i5 with 4 cores, but the i3 has a faster clock. It’s also going to be cheaper.
Where are you buying this machine and for how much? I smell a rip-off.
That’s key (well cost matters too). There are other users in the Community that advise the i5, because of the extra cores. Basically, if you going to have a large-ish library (your albums and what you may call ‘library’ from Tidal) and will want to do digital processing (upsampling and/or DSP) a more powerful CPU becomes more important. I bought the Nuc8i7 for that reason. But lots of folks (like Slim) have a great user experience with the i3.
I am buying the barebones processor from B &H in nyc. It says it has the option to include 32 GB memory which has to be bought separately. I am just going to buy 16 GB as per your advice. The cost is this barebones setup is 531 USD. Do u think it’s a decent price? The model is NUC8I7BEH
Here’s what Amazon has. About the same. I buy all my stuff there (or at NewEgg). Since you are buying bare bones, I guess you are confident in adding the parts yourself?
Roon has a list of recommended components etc, via Amazon. https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Optimized_Core_Kit
I’m not shilling for Amazon, but it does list what you need.
Keep in mind there are basically two parts you need to add. There is the memory, where 8Gb is a normal requirement for an i7 setup. Then there is the SSD that Roon needs to be installed on, and that typically is 128Gb (if you can find it that small). I got this because it was the smallest I could buy.
You’ll need a keyboard (USB), a mouse is really helpful for setting up the BIOS, and an HDMI capable monitor. Even a TV will work.
The instructions are pretty clear. The hardest part is modifying the BIOS to boot from disk, but ‘hard’ is probably too strong a word. The whole thing is sort of fun to do and you’ll find it pretty satisfying if you have even a modest degree of computer saavy.
Thanks. Yes I am planning to get a 16 GB ram and a 1 TB SSD hard drive. See enclosed screenshot. All in, price comes to around 770 plus tax. That’s a decent price for a this config right?
Yes I am an Atom user, my rocks directly under it to but shelves are a good 12" apart. I used to keep my old fan based server in cupboard with rest of network stuff but since getting the silent modle I moved it out as it’s cooler outside the cupboard and I like the convenience of it.
Your component list doesn’t quite look right yet. Let’s make sure you have these things:
Nuc8i7BEH, check.
8-16 GB DDR4 Ram, check.
Samsung 250GB M.2 PCI-express SSD. This is where you install ROCK. I don’t think you have that one right, 1TB is way too much memory, but the price is cheap.
If you want internal storage you need a 1TB (size your choice) 2.5" SATA III internal SSD drive (see the picture Slim shows).
You are getting good prices.
@grossmsj are u saying I have the wrong type of SSD selected? I though I can store all my FLAC files on the internal SSD that’s why I opted for I TB. Will this be any faster than having the music on an external SSD and connecting through USB ?
