I’ve been happily running Roon on my Windows PC for about 2 years now, with audio enabled on 3 Roon compatible devices in 3 rooms. Everything has been working to my satisfaction, and audio quality is excellent. The PC is used for very basic purposes - email, social media, YouTube, etc. (zero gaming), so having Roon installed isn’t a burden on either its memory or storage.
Bit of a devil’s advocate question, but what would I gain by migrating to a Nucleus One? At this point I’m very much in an “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” frame of mind, but please enlighten me if I’m missing out.
Nothing, really. If you ever get to a point where Roon and whatever else you are using the PC for start interfering with each other, then you may want to start thinking about a dedicated server.
A device that never needs any updates is always on and ready to play in an instant from any device that can function as a Roon remote be it a PC, phone or tablet. Adding an SSD makes it also your music server (with option up to over100k albums). To which you can simply drag and drp any download or music file you own, just like your computer, but flawlessly. It also runs ARC flawlessly. So in summary, it does everything your computer does while being a hassle without any hassles! No Windows no apple, co cofkicts no updates. Simply a cheap barebones computer that serves a single purpose, run Roon! Since Roon is it’s operating system, file manager, streaming software, etc, and so on it takes care of everything in the backgroud. All you ever have to do is choose and play your music. In summary, running Roon from any other device is a hobbled version in comparison. The fact is, it’s not even a competition .
A common misconception
Since the Nucleus operating system is Roon itself regardless of the “bones” it may be built on. You never have to mess with the hardware or the hardware’s operating system, ever. All updates happen seamlessly in the background or when the device is not being used.
Both a NUC running ROCK and a Nucleus use RoonOS as the operating system with the same Linux version of the Roon Server running on top of that. Proof of this lies in the fact that, if the NVME SSD in your Nucleus fails outside of the warranty period, one of the options you have is to replace the SSD yourself, install ROCK and then, via the support process, invite Roon to re-add the (very few) customisations that make it identify as a Nucleus and, in the case of every Nucleus other than the Nucleus One, manage CPU temperatures in a way suitable for fanless operation.
In fact, RoonOS is nothing more than a pared down version of Linux running just the services required for Roon (e.g. Samba Server and client for network file access). There is nothing special about RoonOS. The same can be achieved with other versions of Linux albeit with more effort required to get such a minimal system.
The only difference in user experience between a suitable NUC/ROCK combination and a Nucleus is the initial setup. While the Nucleus comes ready to go, the NUCs are typically (but not always) bought bare bones so you have to fit DRAM and NVME and then install RoonOS using a USB flash drive. This would typically take less than an hour and a little as 15 minutes for someone comfortable with such procedures.
In fact, because the NUC/ROCK option allows you to choose your own hardware (currently 13th generation NUCs are supported but there are people that have successfully used 14th and 15th generation NUCs) with as much DRAM as you wish, it is possible to put together a device with all of the benefits of a Nucleus (except initial setup) that will significantly outperform any Nucleus - even a Nucleus Titan - whilst still offering the same benefits once the initial setup is done.
To put together a device… you hit the nail square on the head. Aside from adding an internal SSD the Nucleus requires no “Putting Together!” You plug it into the wall, the ethernet, and your amp. Thats it. There is zero computer sculldruggery nor skill required other than downloading the app. Its a complete out of the box component, not a computer geek project! Most people that simply want to listen to music the last thing they want to do is mess with another OS, configuration setting or any of that “computering” ■■! All they want is to pick the music they like and press play.
Nevertheless, after the initial setup the ROCK behaves exactly like the Nucleus. Whether the initial setup is considered problematic or not is up to the individual.