Roon does hardware [Nucleus introduced in Munich]

[guerph]

@danny

There is no way that price would be realistic… the ARK price from Intel on the board-only NUC5i5 + RAM + SSD is around $500. Then you have to add a good power supply and a fancy case for that market.

That type of price in the HiFi channel market would go for well over $1000, not including the Roon license.

Lessons here:1) Boutique hardware always costs more. No one can compete with the price of a NUC from Intel with a short life (the 5th generation above is a 3 year lifetime, not 1 year like the retail kits).2) Fancy cases and power supplies will never be offered by Intel, only boutiques.3) The HiFi channel, involving distributors and storefronts, amplify the cost of the final product.

Oh yah, and 20% off Roon is just crazy talk! Go ask Intel for that discount and see what they tell you … and in my opinion, Roon is worth far more than the NUC.

For those who missed @Danny rant about pricing. Somewhat incoherent but gives voice to questions about pricing and unlikelihood of Roon bundle with hardware.
For the record, I think the pricing is fair for a turnkey high end market solution. Had I not already bought a i5 NUC kit intended for ROCK, I might actually have considered it.