I have a Lyngdorf TDAI 1120 with MH Speakers and BW2 sub woofers, Qobuz and Roon. I have Roon on my PC which is in a different room and it is controlled by my ipad and the TDAI 1120 is connected by ethernet to my network. As well as Qobuz I aloso have a music library on my PC which is about 250gb and I don’t see this increasing a great deal. I want to move away from using my PC and use an NUC instead and, as I am not good with tech, I want the NUC to be Roon ready so all I need to do is plug it in. My questions are:-
Which model NUC do I need to buy
Where can buy it from so that it is Roon ready with all the necessary files and software
Do I connect the TDAI 1120 directly to the NUC or should the NUC be connected to the network via an ethernet cable
Get at least an i5 (most people don’t need an i7), no more than a 256GB M.2 (128GB is enough but they are becoming rarer than hen’s teeth), and (since RAM is cheap) 16 GB of RAM. A NUC in a tall case will let you add an additional SSD for your music files.
Installing ROCK is easy-peasy.
Really any NUC will do for most people, so maybe the cheapest options are the best. Check out the FOR SALE section of the forum for used NUCs.
That would be a Nucleus then, because the ROCK license does not allow random third-parties to sell NUCs with ROCK preinstalled.
The Roon Core, whatever it is, needs to be connected to the network because it’s the brain of Roon. Wired Ethernet is very strongly recommended.
If the Lyngdorf is Roon Ready, then it goes on the network, too. In this case, the Roon Core (NUC with ROCK) does not have to be near the hifi, as long as they are all connected to the same network. You control the ROCK from the Roon app on your PC and phones/tablets
If the Lyngdorf is not Roon Ready and gets its input by USB, the ROCK must be somewhere a USB cable can reach.
An i3 is fine for most normal libraries it is after all used in the nucleus.
This nuc allows you to put an SSD inside for your music storage. https://amzn.eu/d/dB7ll1b
Hey Tim, the benefit of building a NUC/ROCK server vs turn key Nucleus +, besides the cost, is that you get to pick what you think are the best internal components available for performance and longevity. The NUC will have the motherboard and CPU then you pick the memory, m.2 ssd drive for Roon os/databse, and SATA drive for your library. It’s not real difficult to build but if you’re not comfortable doing it perhaps you know someone that would build it for you. Everyone has there own valid opinion as to how much CPU power to get in the NUC. For me the I7 is my choice. I’d go higher if I could. Good luck to you.
I sense some anxiety about building your own server, as did I. Fear not. If you can follow directions (granted, not a universal skill) you can build a server in an hour or less.
One could also buy a finished NUC from people who know what they are doing, like the Cirrus7 Nimbini Pro Edition (fanless and based on NUC12):
The Cirrus7 guys know ROCK and can make recommendations if one does not know what to pick in the online configurator. (Or the forum can - it’s really just a choice between different SSDs and there is not so much in it. The different CPUs are all fine and it only depends on what one wants to spend). I have one and it’s great. They even come with 3 or 5 years warranty as an option.
The one thing they can’t do is preinstall ROCK, but that’s not so hard and the forum can always help.
Financially they are very reasonable and lie somewhere between doing it all by oneself and a Nucleus, depending on the choices
Building my own NUC is out of the question because I simply do not have the skill. I would get extremely stressed
Buying something from Cirrus seems like the best option but I would need to see line by line instructions for loading Roon software before I took the plunge. Anyone know where these can be found ?
If you want something like a Nucleus but cheaper check out the SonicTransporter I5 from Small Green Computer. Probably twice the price of a NUC but half the price of the Nucleus.
