a nuc10 is a bit more efficient an has better performance. With an i5 (4 cores), an i7 (10th gen) is notably faster but you do not really need it. I have all music storen on an internal SSD of 8 TB and its is very fast. The NUC kit costs a bit over €500 but the SSD was €800.
You can plugin external drives as your collection grows.
And if you are going to use a NUC then I would advise you to buy a separate linear power supply.
It sounds much better than the standard one.
I thought the same. I was thinking of this https://ifi-audio.com/products/ipowerx/ - But it only goes up to 15V, is that enough?
Otherwise, this could be a solution https://ifi-audio.com/products/dc-ipurifier2/
iFi is what my local pusher has, in terms of power upgrades
Edit: The first one does not have enough power / current. Don’t use it for NUC. The current output of the second one seems marginal.
About this lineair power supply I heard very positive results, and will definitely go buy one my own nuc
Welcome in the forum 
iFi: " * Compatible with 5-24 volt DC power supply units (up to 3.5A, 84W)"
How much does a NUC need?
Ideally 19V 4A.
So that will possibly not effect performance?
8th Gen NUC seems to require 19V, 4A and 90W.
The iPurifier 2 gives up to 25V, 3.5A and 84W
I’m getting confused , are you going to attach any output device directly to your intended NUC. If not why are we worrying about it’s power supply. Use the one supplied and save the cost.
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When I used a NUC I used a 19V 150VA linear power supply from China. I don’t know if all the NUC’s use the same voltage (I would think so).
There is also a difference in linear power supplies and if I had to recommend something it would be Hdplex but it’s not cheap (https://hdplex.com/hdplex-fanless-300w-linear-power-supply-for-pc-audio-and-ce-device.html).
If you look in China (aliexpress) you will find a lot of PS arround $100 for the NUC.
FYI, the iFi iPower X is a switching PS, not a linear one!
I can see, that other users have had great experience with the iPurifier 2 and definitely not the iPower X, as you mention @Tini_van_den_Broek. Outtake from a review for the iPurifier:
“I’ve been using iFi iPower supplies for my Sonore microRendu, USB hard drive enclosure and network switch, but an iPower isn’t available for a 19V DC Intel NUC8 device, so I took a recommendation to use the iPurifier. I can hear the difference with and without the IPurifier in the power supply chain.”
Hi Niels,
A switching power supply creates “HF noise” and you can use a purifier to reduce that noise.
A linear power supply creates far less “HF noise” and the sound will be cleaner and warmer.
This is an example of a Chinese one that works wel with a NUC:
Niels i have build really many Roon servers with Rock ( 30 plus) . At the moment the NUC8i5 are sort of on sale and you do not need more than 8 GB ram and 120 GB m2 ssd for the OS. For storage you can choose any 2.5 ssd you like, the samsungs are good. If you intend to connect the NUC directly to a USB DAC you might have “some” ( but really very little) improvement using a better powerrsupply. The Roon solutions works best if you have an endpoint. (the ipurifier with an endpoint can improve your sound) ( this is an old article at glorioussound ) Just for 128 dsd the NUC8i5 is a lot more than enough
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Bought a NUC 7i7 a couple of years ago and used it to host ROCK and do several DSP jobs. Ran like a charm - until I changed my router. With all remaining devices and settings being the same, my NUC refuses to show on the network. Room support did not help and now I may have to reinstall everything from scratch, which I am dreading. My new router is a FritzBox so be aware, these devices can conflict with a NUC. Only heaven knows how.
They did.
You have not replied to that suggestion.
Reinstallation is unlikely going to fix network discovery problem caused by router.
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Hi Harry!
Thank you for that very detailed table.
Shows pretty good what @wklie mentioned about the Single Thread performance of the Gen8i7.
I have obtained an offer from the local hardware dealer for the 8i7BEH with 16GB ram and 128GB SSD. I also asked him to give 2 prices on both the Samsung EVO Plus 250gb and a decent 128gb SSD M.2 - Would it make any difference in sound to choose something a bit cheaper, instead of the Samsung?
I’m gonna wire the Nuc to my router, and wire the router directly to my Lumin D2. I’m gonna try out if an iFi iPurifier2 will enchance SQ, when put on to the Nuc.
I use Samsung based on quality, adherence to specifications, and solid performance. I’ve never had one fail. There would be no difference in sound quality. If your comfortable with another brand then go with what you’re familiar with.
Here’s an even harder question. This has me thinking as my existing Roon Core machine ( a 2013 iMac) was obsoleted today by Mac OS11. Should I consider non-Intel NUCs? I assume the wonderful people at Roon will provide a Mac OS11 version of the Roon Core, and they are probably working on it now. But what I am really thinking about is to either dual boot, or boot ROCK directly onto a Mac mini (Apple Silicon M1 chip). It would seem that the ARM chips in an ARM NUC or Apple NUC ( a Mac mini) might be more future proof (and in the case of Apple Silicon) be better performing and produce less heat than an Intel NUC. This might be stupid talk, and if so, I apologise.
NUC = Next Unit of Computing. That is Intel nomenclature. Non Intel and Apple NUCs do not exist.
AJ