Cost is one reason.
An i3 is probably as much as is needed for all who aren’t upsampling to high DSD rates.
Everything I’ve tried with DSP on Roon has had that ‘hmm that might sound better’ aspect which usually turns to ‘no, actually it doesn’t’ after listening a short while. With Naim you want to just let the file stay as is.
My thoughts exactly Charles, when it comes to sound reproduction, I have confidence that the Naim engineers will achieve better results than any tinkering I do. I guess it never hurts to try/experiment but I’m not sitting here with any current dissatisfaction with what I have today, sound wise
Based on your valuable inputs, I’m thinking this might work out well:
That looks an excellent choice of core and components.
Thanks, to be honest I’m even wondering if the i3 (8109u) would be enough for me, with no planned DSP use. The lower power consumption / heat generation (and potentially less fan noise) would be the upside.
Interestingly it seems the 8th gen i3 outperforms the 10th gen i3 in many tasks.
The latest does not equal the best all the time, especially depending on your needs/tasks. Intel prioritized other things in later generation chips. Its all about knowing what you need from the hardware and choosing the best hardware to deliver that. Obs, imho.
Indeed :). Seems they focused on virtualisation capability in 10th gen.
Not necessarily. You need:
Legacy bios mode.
An Ethernet chipset recognised by RoonOS.
Boot from USB.
The first and third will prevent use of ROCK full stop. The second will require a USB3 dongle to get around the issue. Wireless modes may well have issues too. The only way to know is to try it.