Where are improvements to sound quality?

Not quite. ROCK is also used by third-party hardware sellers like SGC (Small Green Computer). The Nucleus and a Nucleus+ use a specific Intel chipset and are not just “any old” Intel in a fancy box. The SGC i5 also has no fan, as one example. If you read carefully, you will find mention of RoonOS having been customized for the specific chipset in the Nucleus boxes. Listen without prejudice.

Famous last words.:laughing:

Or without expectation bias.

Pretty sure if Roon believed SQ was improved for real by using ROCK, Roon OS, or Nucleus then they would advertise that, but whatever.

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No one said the Nucleus is the only fanless NUC available. But it is one of the best thermal designs (and probably the prettiest)’

Intel makes scores of CPUs and dozens of motherboards. No one said ‘“any old” Intel chipset’. The Nucleus does, however, use a standard NUC motherboard (with the ‘standard’ associated chipset).

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You’re clearly impressed with your grasp of technology. So all I will say is that (1) confirmation bias—which I think is what you actually meant—doesn’t tend to occur across large segments of a given population, and—if you just read this forum—you will see that everyone to a person who has compared a Nucleus to any other Roon server machine says the Nucleus sounds better. Then (2), Roon actually does advertise that. So that’s another thing you missed by spending more time developing an uninformed opinion than doing some basic research … but, whatever …

Robert, do you have a link to where it says that?

No need to be snotty.

If your look at my profile you will see that I spend far too much time on this forum. Not “everyone to a person” say Nucleus sounds better, including danny.

Where?

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I have a Nucleus. As far as I can tell, it sounds no better than my Dell laptop. Therefore, I doubt it sounds better than a NUC other than the fact it has no fan. Regardless, it certainly works better than my laptop and I love it.

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And therein lies both the advertised and the real benefits of Nucleus and Roon OS or ROCK.

The benefit of Nucleus, without regard to Roon OS, is that it is a turnkey system that, theoretically needs no further setup and that it is supported by the shop where one bought it.

The benefit of Roon OS/ROCK is that one need not (necessarily) be concerned about being impacted by updates to the underlying OS, as would be the case with Roon on WIN10 or macOS.

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Well, you have me there. I suppose that means you are 100% right and I am 100% wrong, which implies that this conversation can no longer serve any useful purpose.

No they can’t. I can’t.

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your kit isn’t good enough :innocent:

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Obviously not!
Oh well, maybe if I chuck another £60k at my system, I’ll see the light… :rofl:

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you sure your hearing is up to it? Some folk here have incredible hearing acuity. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Yep. I’m so jealous of those people who can hear differences between Ethernet cables… :joy:

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Just remember you’ll get even more noticeable gains from questionably engineered exotic boutique stuff. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I don’t think that this is correct. AFAIK, SGC uses their own Linux build, and pre-install Roon Server on their Transporter products. @agillis should be able to say what is the actual case here.

I have an i5 running sonicOrbiter and the Roon remote app says the i5 is running ROCK.

Well, that’s very strange, since SGC uses their own OS (SonicOrbiter OS) to support other applications besides Roon. Their web site states:

The sonicTransporter i5 runs Roon Server, HQPlayer (embedded), Squeezebox Server, Plex Media Server and MinimServer (DLNA server) .

ROCK uses Roon OS - and this does not support any other applications besides Roon.

No one can redistribute ROCK with a system it’s against the licensing agreement. As Geoff says SonicTransporter use their own OS not ROCK.

I have to say it’s great witnessing, for once, the unfounded and/or incorrect claims being countered successfully. It really makes me happy seeing the belief-based discourse being thoroughly rebuked. Thank you.