So I bought a NUC, NUC7i7BNH, I added 32 GB of RAM, 1 Samsun 970 evo 1tb M.2 and a Samsung 860 EVO 4TB 2.5". Quite powerful. The million dollar question is do I install rock or linux/windows and then a normal Roon core ? The system as such seems quite heavy for Roon alone but to be honest, I do not feel too much installing windows on it (we all use Mac in the house) and I do not see any additional utility in installing linux on it.
The only thing I could see is running node-red on it for some automation, however so far I haven’t got an idea on what to automate.
Second question is, I also have a pi with hifiberry digi+ and a linear power supply to feed it, so far I used this at the main music center (devialet 400 expert) do I leave the nuc in a remote location and leave the pi at the devialet. Do I stream direct to the devialet ? do I connect the nuc direct to the devialet with usb ? (too many possibilities)
You could connect the NUC/ROCK directly to the Devialet if you don’t need the HiFiBerry. There is a current thread about this. I have found connecting a Core directly to a USB input can sound wonderful if properly executed.
Use Devialet AIR over ethernet for now, and if you have the new Core Infinity upgrade, it’ll hopefully become Roon Ready some day.
This way, there is no direct hookup to the NUC.
This is what I do… NUC/ROCK in server closet + Expert 220 pro in my bedroom over ethernet/AIR. I used to do this with an Expert 200 w/o Core Infinity until I recently got the upgrade.