Roon on NAS Experience Index: 2026

Roon Software Discussion QNAP/Synology NAS
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Happy 2026! Welcome to the third in a series of threads on the Roon Forums, which were originally inspired by a nudge from @Arindal. In the spirit of other volunteer-generated threads on here like “What are you listening to” and “What’s rocking you tonight,” this thread is re-created once a year with fresh details to make thread-reading more manageable.

(Visit the 2024 edition and 2025 edition if you’d like.)

Many of us on these forums use Roon on a NAS with great success (in 2023, I started a long thread about my own experience). Despite much of what you might read online (even in these forums), Roon works incredibly well on a well-spec’d NAS, and is officially supported, so long as one is not using Roon in a Docker container.

Please note that this is not geared toward those interested in using a NAS merely for music storage, whether primary or backup. It is for those running their entire Roon “stack” on a NAS.

How does this work? Well, please copy/paste the following template to share what I think are the most relevant details that contribute to one’s overall experience. Thank you in advance to those of you who are willing to share your experiences!

For all those who contributed in the past, including 2025 (@Arindal, @Boris_Molodyi, @Giancarlo_Rosso, @Johnny_Skaaning, @Thorsten_Heinrich, @Frank_Berens1, @Nick_Zwar, @SullyCuse, @SEBASTIEN_MICHEL, @Ken_Hutchins - forum software limits me to 10 per post so see the others below…), if your situation hasn’t changed, it would be wonderful if you could simply indicate so in the thread.

Thanks, and here’s to a great 2026!

Summary: Brand - Model - Experience Rating

Brand

Model

NAS OS Version

Total Installed RAM

Roon on NAS Method (e.g., Roon on NAS | Docker Container (Unsupported) | Other)

Main Drives: Brand

Main Drives: Model

Main Drives: Quantity

Main Drives: RAID Configuration

Roon DB Drive: Brand

Roon DB Drive: Model

Roon DB Drive: Size

Roon DB Drive: Connection Method (e.g., Main Board, USB3, eSATA)

Local Area Network Connection Method

Number of Local Tracks

Total Size of Locally Stored Music

Number of Streaming Service Tracks

Geography

Dedicated to music use? (Yes/No)

Using in Parallel with NAS Vendor Music Solution (e.g., Synology Audio Station, QNAP Music Station, etc.?) (Yes/No)

Using ARC? (Yes/No)

Using DSP? (Yes/No)

Typical Number of Simultaneously Used Playback Zones

Overall Rating (Choose One; backslash star (\*) to give a star):**

(****: Everything flawless)

(***: A few flaws, but mostly OK)

(**: Just about worth it, but could be better)

(*: Unacceptable)

Any Notes People Should Know?

3 Likes
Roon on NAS Experience Index: 2025
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…Thanks also to @Harald_Grams, @Franz-Josef_Knelange, @Peter_Gallagher, @KMM, @Michael_Crook, @Alan_Sparks, @Sevenfeet, @Eraklis_Diakou, @pbphoto, @elmek and…

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…Finally to @GL_SG_TG, @Alex_Malyshev, @Hampus_Martinsson.

1 Like
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Oh, and for me, same as 2024 in all respects, except my music collection is now at 2.7TB and 61,480 tracks.

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Summary: Brand - Model - Experience Rating

Brand: Custom TrueNAS Server

Model: Case: Seasonic CORE V2 GX-650 (ATX3), CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800XT

NAS OS Version: TrueNAS 25.10.1

Total Installed RAM: 128GB

Roon on NAS Method: Docker

Main Drives: Brand: 4 x Seagate IronWolf 12GB (data), 2 x Micron 7450 Pro 960GB NVMe (app), 2 x Samsung EVO SATA 500GB SSD (boot)

Main Drives: RAID Configuration: ZFS

Roon DB Drive: Connection Method (e.g., Main Board, USB3, eSATA): Broadcom/LSI 9300-8i backplane

Local Area Network Connection Method: 10Gb

Number of Local Tracks: ~16,000

Geography: USA

Dedicated to music use? (Yes/No): No

Using in Parallel with NAS Vendor Music Solution (e.g., Synology Audio Station, QNAP Music Station, etc.?) (Yes/No): No

Using ARC? (Yes/No)

Using DSP? (Yes/No)

Typical Number of Simultaneously Used Playback Zones: 2

Overall Rating (Choose One; backslash star (*) to give a star):**: **** (for the hardware and TrueNAS)

(****: Everything flawless)

(***: A few flaws, but mostly OK)

(**: Just about worth it, but could be better)

(*: Unacceptable)

Any Notes People Should Know?: TrueNAS has a steep learning curve.

1 Like
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Same as previously

Brand
Synology
Model
DS1522+
NAS OS Version
DSM 7.3
Total Installed RAM
24GB
Roon on NAS Method (e.g., Roon on NAS | Docker Container (Unsupported) | Other)
Roon on NAS
Main Drives: Brand
Mix
Main Drives: Model
Mix
Main Drives: Quantity
4
Main Drives: RAID Configuration
SHR
Roon DB Drive: Brand
On main spinning drives
Roon DB Drive: Model
Same as main
Roon DB Drive: Size
Same as main
Roon DB Drive: Connection Method (e.g., Main Board, USB3, eSATA)
Main board
Local Area Network Connection Method
10GB Ethernet
Number of Local Tracks
~60K
Total Size of Locally Stored Music
1.25TB
Number of Streaming Service Tracks
n/a
Geography
Texas
Dedicated to music use? (Yes/No)
No
Using in Parallel with NAS Vendor Music Solution (e.g., Synology Audio Station, QNAP Music Station, etc.?) (Yes/No)
Yes
Using ARC? (Yes/No)
Yes
Using DSP? (Yes/No)
Yes
Typical Number of Simultaneously Used Playback Zones
2
Overall Rating (Choose One; backslash star (*) to give a star):**
****
(****: Everything flawless)

(***: A few flaws, but mostly OK)

(**: Just about worth it, but could be better)

(*: Unacceptable)

Any Notes People Should Know?

Instead of wasting SSD drives on the Roon DB I am using large enough M.2 cache drives to keep all of Roon’s DB in there transparently.

Currently, the box is running Synology Photos (with all mobile devices uploading automatically, Plex and Audio Station (although those aren’t being heavily used), Surveillance Station with multiple cameras, and every zone is running at least a convolution filter.

DS1522+ will choke on trying to DSP high-rate DSD files, but everything else, including PCM768 and sane DSD works just fine.

1 Like
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Thanks, for this. I currently have a dedicated ROCK 13i5 because I deemed my synology 92x too underpowered even with a 16gb add on stick. Now I am evaluating a single big box, (have a Ryzen 3700 and 32gb ram. lying around and a Silverstone case with a HDD backplane is on the way). I have experience of OMV but not truNas. Were you to do it again, would you still choose truNas or make other choices?

1 Like
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Happy new year!
I’m still on my DS218+, my music collection up to 155GB.

IMG_6222
IMG_62221320×2868 126 KB

2 Likes
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I would absolutely choose TrueNAS but that may be specific to my workloads. I’ve owned a number of Synology boxes and other have used other home-built strategies. TrueNAS is great.

That said…you really need to research before you build. Many builds are built as:

  • spinning discs in some ZFS config for the storage pool
  • a pair of enterprise-grade NVMe SSDs for the app pool
  • a pair of SSDs for the boot pool
  • a ton of RAM because ZFS will use it as cache

The online community is quite helpful with feedback on build plans.

All of this said, the whole thing has a pretty steep learning curve. Just figuring out, for example, whether you want to go with POSIX permissions or ACL can be a big effort. And you certainly won’t have many of the turnkey built-in apps and experiences that you’re used to with Synology (no file browser, no simple backup apps, etc)

So…while I love it and it’s working great for me with my many docker containers and home-lab stuff, it’s not a clear choice for someone who wants a turnkey NAS like Synology if that’s what you’re interested in.

3 Likes
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I have been thinking about upgrading my 920+ with an SSD. I see the official way is for this to be used is only as cache, not storage (I know there are workaround)

Would Roon benefit from SSD cache?

My initial plan was to install it as storage and move Roon DB over.

1 Like
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Hello, Happy New Year!

Nothing has changed for me, NAS = Antipodes S40/S60 - 3.7 TB of music on an 8 TB Samsung SSD.

2 Likes
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It will benefit. How much depends on your specific usage patterns, what else Synology is used for, and the size of the library. In my case at least, BTRFS is pinned, all of Roon library is in the cache, and there’s enough room left to cache most of other random small file access as well.

4 Likes
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Summary: Synology DS720+

Brand
Synology
Model
DS720+
NAS OS Version
DSM 7.3.2-86009
Total Installed RAM
18GB
Roon on NAS Method (e.g., Roon on NAS | Docker Container (Unsupported) | Other)
Roon on NAS
Main Drives: Brand
WD
Main Drives: Model
Gold
Main Drives: Quantity
2x10TB
Main Drives: RAID Configuration
RAID 1
Roon DB Drive: Brand
JMicron
Roon DB Drive: Model
Juanwe
Roon DB Drive: Size
120GB
Roon DB Drive: Connection Method (e.g., Main Board, USB3, eSATA)
USB3
Local Area Network Connection Method
wired 1GB
Number of Local Tracks
70k
Geography
Germany
Using in Parallel with NAS Vendor Music Solution (e.g., Synology Audio Station, QNAP Music Station, etc.?) (Yes/No)
No. Running Plex Server
Using ARC? (Yes/No)
Yes, sometimes. Plexamp is more reliable though.
Using DSP? (Yes/No)
No
Typical Number of Simultaneously Used Playback Zones
1
Overall Rating (Choose One; backslash star (*) to give a star):**
****

Any Notes People Should Know?

1 Like
14

In order to preserve power I’ve moved to new hardware which is a SSD-based Beelink Mini ME.

Other than that, the setup is the same: Unraid with Roon running in a docker.

I have three servers with Roon installed in this way and there’s been a few times I’ve wished it was easier to switch between them, without the de-authorization steps. For practical reasons. How about removing the limit and only allow one to be active at a time?

1 Like
15

Hello Nas users!

I run Roon on an aging Small Green Computers Sonic Transporter I5 (gen 3) (2017), with music files hosted on a Synology 1019+. I have 244535 Tracks. I’m running into performance problems, and am considering upgrading the system – possibly putting the whole Roon stack on the NAS.

I’m wondering if anyone here has a large library on the 1019+, and what kind of setup they have on the 1019+ (I’m assuming I will need to upgrade the RAM and add an SSD read cache).

Any advice welcome (even if it is: upgrade the NAS as well!)

Thanks!!

Roon scans storage folders despite "only on startup" setting (ref#OKTBFW) [Roon Investigating]
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Hi, main thing running Roon on a NAS:

  1. Your NAS need to have an Intel CPU (not ARM, no experience with AMD)
  2. You will get in trouble with memory
  3. You will get in trouble when adding new music to your local library

After hurting myself multiple years by running Roon on my QNAP I’ve decided to put Roon on a separate PC (i7-9700, 16GB memory), which I’ve got second hand. Only thing I’ve upgraded on that machine is more memory (32GB). This is a requirement for libraries above 500.000.

Roon on NAS is fine for small libraries, but above the 200.000 mark the experience sucks, even when the QNAP has 64GB memory.

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  1. AMD works fine.
  2. If you have enough RAM, it’ll work just fine.
  3. Not true, as proven by the responses to this topic over the years.

There are plenty of people running Roon on NAS with large libraries in here, with no issues. It is the rule rather than the exception, given enough memory and with an appropriate processor, which most of today’s NASs seem to have. (These requirements are whether running on a NAS or not.) This wasn’t as true of NASs many years ago as it is today.

6 Likes
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Goodluck!!

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Your lack of specifics of the NAS device you suggest hurt you doesn’t validate your experience.

On your i7-9700, are you running Rock?

I would be surprised if you are having a good experience here with a library exceeding 500k tracks.

I compared Rock to DietPi running Roon Server, Rock gives a poorer experience overall on the same hardware with a library exceeding 350k tracks. A combination of local and Qobuz.

I had an i5-8500T at the time, which is older and gives a poorer single core benchmark than your i7.

Comparing a current i3 13th gen in the Roon Titan, which has a significantly better single core benchmark score than your i7, the Titan would likely struggle with a library size you mention (mainly because they aren’t shipped with sufficient RAM).

It’d be interesting to read the specs of the NAS you had.

2 Likes
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Brand
Custom
Model
16 Core AMD Epyc 7302p on Supermicro H12SSI
NAS OS Version
Unraid 7.2
Total Installed RAM
256GB
Roon on NAS Method (e.g., Roon on NAS | Docker Container (Unsupported) | Other)
Docker
Main Drives: Brand
Seagate
Main Drives: Model
Exos
Main Drives: Quantity
5x20TB
Main Drives: RAID Configuration
JBOD
Roon DB Drive: Brand
Samsung
Roon DB Drive: Model
PM993
Roon DB Drive: Size
4x2TB U.2
Roon DB Drive: Connection Method (e.g., Main Board, USB3, eSATA)
U.2 PCIE 4x4x4x4
Local Area Network Connection Method
2x10GB SFP
Number of Local Tracks
26k
Geography
Canada
Using in Parallel with NAS Vendor Music Solution (e.g., Synology Audio Station, QNAP Music Station, etc.?) (Yes/No)
NO
Using ARC? (Yes/No)
Yes
Using DSP? (Yes/No)
Yes
Typical Number of Simultaneously Used Playback Zones
1
1
Overall Rating 6.5/10

Roons Poor MultiCore Optimization makes this system Tough so I recently moved Roon to my AMD Mini PC for Faster Single Core Perf for DSP

8 Core with 32GB of Ram with Big Server over SMB

2 Likes