When you say “what a difference”, are you speaking about software/hardware performance (speed and stability), or there is a sound quality difference also?
Difference, sound wise. It’s more meaty, organic, … real. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much difference when I transitioned. I wasn’t even looking for it but it was obvious when I pressed play the 1st time!
Yes the license is not cheap but it did just cost me a fanless case for my old NUC that i would have thrown away because it could barely handle the 4k TV to which it was plugged.
@inbox4
My backup solution is dead simple. All my music is sitting on an 1Gb external SSD attached to my ROCK via USB. Whenever I want to back it up, I just unplug it and perform the backup. Whenever I want to add something, I access it via my home network.
The Roon library is backed up on this SSD as well.
@inbox4
Would you think using a SOtM or ultrarendu on a ROCK can bring dramatic improvements? I’ve heard about it but still can’t wrap my head around it… if the USB input on the DAC is good and the source is good too, why bother adding a renderer in the path?
I can’t explain why there is an improvement but there certainly was. I had a Mac mini connected to a Chord Qutest which sounded great. The SOtM was better. Especially with the dedicated power supply. It’s a step on.
It’s also nice to move a computer out of the room and into the office in my case.
I would recommend a demo. If you do, come back to me with your thoughts…