Roon does hardware [Nucleus introduced in Munich]

Roon Software Discussion Nucleus
200

Thanks Danny
I remember when you first mentioned Nucleus you spoke about it going into the HIFI rack.
It is recommended normally that for the best sound quality the Core is kept in a separate room and then you feed a renderer through Ethernet. I understand this is because of computer noise. If I want the best sound quality can I buy a Nucleus and feed it direct to my Dac and bypass the renderer.
I have the ISO_DAC here , https://www.ciunas.biz/product-dets.

201

The Nucleus will be fanless, so the acoustic noise is not an issue for a listening room.

If that device does not require a driver for Mac/linux, itā€™ll work fine with Nucleus.

202

Thanks , can it be powered with a UltraCap LPS-1 ?

203

If you are using it with an end point the official Intel NUC PSU will be fine. It is 19v. You can use others if the need arises, such as direct connection of a DAC but they have to be a minimum of 12v with a higher current rating than the 19v item to compensate. Use the LPS-1 to power the end point for best results.

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204

Hi, Any news on the launch on the Roon Nucleus ???
Cheers !

205

You mean other than the post 7 days ago saying shipping to dealers/distributors hopefully end September? :innocent:

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for buyers from Italy there will be an Italian retailer?

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Donā€™t know if Iā€™m allowed to post this (mods can remove it if itā€™s against forum rules) but Tony has one of my USB isolated DACs (ISO-DAC) & yes it can run with Mac/Linux inbuilt driver (also with Win 10, now)

And to Tonyā€™s question - one of my ISO-PS with 17V or 20V battery power output will power the Nucleus - just contact me

208

Thanks John

209

Does the Nucleus features a custom made mobo or simply out sourced from Taiwanese mobo manufacturers? Such as Asus, Gigabytes and MSI?

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The Nucleus is a generation 7 NUC.

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For clarification (as NUC has become slightly generic), an Intel NUC.

212

Sadly Iā€™m not getting any emails for this topic it seems, only for the first post after my reply.
Just checked my preferences and theyā€™re ok.

Is it possible to put a big 3.5" drive in the Nucleus so it can store your music?

213

So a chain with the Nucleus would look like this:
Nucleus -> Network player (like Aries or SoTM sMS-200) -> any DAC -> amp?
Whatā€™s the advantage of adding the network player vs. directly connecting the Nucleus to your DAC?
And no need to have a Roon Ready DAC when using the Nucleus I guess, even when connecting directly to the Nucleus?
Or can one dismiss the network player when using a Roon Ready DAC?

I see the benefit of adding a Nucleus to the stup I have now (DAC connected directly to PC) but beyond that itā€™s seems to egt a bit complicated for me so Iā€™d be grateful if anyone can make me a bit wiser regarding Roon Ready Network Players and Roon Ready DACS for my setup versus going Nucleus + DAC only. Iā€™m thinking about ease of use as well.

I particularly donā€™t understand why either the netork player or DAC needs to be Roon Ready after adding a Nucleus.

Thank you for any help you can give me!

214

Well a network player or a DAC needs to be Roon Ready so that Roon can see them on the network. Now, adding a Sonic Orbiter or a microRendu can make any DAC Roon Ready since they are Ethernet to USB converters basically.

If you are plugging your DAC directly into the Nucleus, then that all doesnā€™t matter ( in essence the Nucleus is doing just the same function as your PC is currently).

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215

In addition to what @Rugby wrote, there are many Roon users out there that prefer having the Core (Nucleus) separate from the Bridge (Roon Ready device or similar endpoint) for even better sound quality. I am one of them, but also want the server hidden away for practical reasons. I dont have a completely silent ROCK server so thats another reason to me.

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@StringsForEver You have choices with Roon. I would not worry too much about what others choose to do in their setups. I would look at what works best for you. What I will say with a ROCK powered silent NUC in very much the same vein as Nucleus is that the need to distance the core is less of a priority.
There is no set formula for this, just make it work for you.

217

I now use PC with Roon to DAC via USB.
The best (or at least most elaborate setup would be Nucleus to bridge (network to USB device) to DAC.

But which one of the ones below would be better?
PC to bridge to DAC?
Or Nucleus to DAC?
Or Nucleus to a bridge/DAC?

Thank you for the info guys!

220

Personally I prefer network connected DACs, but if you want to connect the DAC directly via USB to the Roon Core, thatā€™s fine as well.

This is my stance: provided the device running Roon Core has enough performance (for how one uses Roon) ā€¦ and the DAC is connected via the network (Roon Ready DAC or connected via a Roon Ready ethernet bridge) device you are good.

That said for extremely large libraries (circa 50K Albums) the common consensus is to run the Roon Core on Windows as that is what Roon is natively developed for, the .NET frameworkā€™s GC is fastest on Windows ā€¦ and presently offers better performance when Roon is tasked with managing such sized libraries.

Ultimately it is just down to personal preference.

221

Thanks to your help Iā€™m getting the picture, basically thereā€™s 5 components:

  • storage: a NAS, internal drive or external drive
  • a core or server: your PC, MAC, a NUC or the Nucleus, basically all PCā€™s.
  • a bridge to translate network to USB. That one is optional.
  • a DAC of course.
  • a Remote to control Roon: PC, MAC, smartphone or tablet.

Some devices consist (or can consist) of two or three of the components.

Now I only want one of these two setups:

  • PC -> bridge -> DAC
  • Nucleus -> DAC
    Which one would give me:
  • best sound
  • ease of use, more precisely easy to manage?