I’m thinking of buying this little box. It could be a suitable, and stylish, alternative to the NUC / Nucleus.
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It is really nice-looking, and you can certainly run the Roon server on most of the Linux distros it comes with.
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Looks very nice and appears to be very well priced.
The only thing that I would be wary of (in the sense that it might require more research) is the use of Coreboot instead of a traditional BIOS.
My understanding is that Coreboot omits many of the features of a full UEFI BIOS. Whilst it can boot UEFI systems, it does not comply with the UEFI standards.
As a consequence, there may be some issues with some operating systems. Having said that, it should be OK with most Linux/BSD based systems.
I have also read of some issues with Coreboot when modifying the hardware - including adding/upgrading memory although I could not find any details.
I have been looking at Coreboot recently because I was looking at the Protectli Vaults as a possible hardware platform for an Opnsense router/firewall build. The protectli Vaults can be supplied either with Coreboot or an AMI BIOS.
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Star Labs also ships AMI Aptio for their machines. However, my StarBook VI has been running fine with Coreboot, and I have tried just about every Linux distribution on it without issue.
I’ve found Coreboot to be reliable, and on a laptop, much more efficient with power management, i.e., I get more run time from the battery when compared to AMI.
I am thinking the opposite for a new RoonServer.
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Is that a computer or a blender? 
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Tell us more!
LOL. I love me some odd cases. There is so much more out there if you know where to look. For example, this one which to me looks a bit odd, but, is definitely a statement peice…
Do I need to buy 18 displays for this?
Nope, just 3.
Boring
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Here it is…
I’m using the PC for more than just a RoonServer as I’m also running HQPlayer, hence the 5070ti graphics card. And games.
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Could be?
- SSDs are quieter, more power efficient and typically faster than HDD
- SSDs can have poorer wear characteristics, if files are changed a lot. Most of my collection is written once and played multiply. I do record the radio, but typically only delete when short on space. I imagine for most Roon users this wouldn’t be an issue.
- It doesn’t appear to have an NVMe drive with a good PCIe interface and a fast network card this can be much faster.
- I have found a much faster browsing and response time with a (30,000+ tracks) library using an NVMe as a cache drive. (updating albums & correcting meta-data especially)
It has an NVMe slot and a slot for a 2.5” SSD. There are two network interfaces: 1 GB and 2.5 GB.
Ahhh the Model 9 from Geometric Future. This will be my new PC build <3
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Im am running ROCK on this fanless mini PC: ZBOX edge CI343 (Barebone) | ZOTAC. It works perfectly, silent and stable.
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In my NAS, I have large 8TB SSDs for ripped audio files and video. But use cheaper “throwaway” drives for something like the video surveillance that are written many times per day and overwritten as allocated space runs out, or anything else that is write-heavy. Oddly, the cheaper drives have been going for many years and haven’t failed on me yet. But it’s only a matter of time, I’m thinking.