Shhh Posted October 30, 2024 Posted October 30, 2024 so the nucleus one can now be bought from singapore but with shipping comes to $978 … why wouldnt i buy the new m4 macmini instead? $998 1
Dolphy Posted October 30, 2024 Posted October 30, 2024 dedicated device vs a device can do other things. From memory, Roon core has been optimised (settings) for streaming. It also makes sense to get a new mac mini (I been watching online reviews today). Would anyone over 50 have golden ears that could tell the difference. Where can you get the core from SIngapore (asking for a friend) 1
Irek Posted October 30, 2024 Posted October 30, 2024 I think there was a discussion about it . Somebody compared nucleus vs laptop and there wasn't much of a difference. In my experiment roon sounded better when laptop was connected by usb cable, although it wasn't my cup of tea type of sound.
Shhh Posted October 30, 2024 Author Posted October 30, 2024 I'm not sure I believe (any competent) digital sources have a sound. they put out 1s and 0s and they go to a DAC (which I do believe has a sound). I believe .... room >>> speakers >> amp > dac > cables > source = source I'm sure there will be many who disagree with that though. The only thing I can think of in favour of the nucleus is convenience (which may be enough).
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted October 30, 2024 Volunteer Posted October 30, 2024 1 hour ago, Shhh said: I'm not sure I believe (any competent) digital sources have a sound. they put out 1s and 0s and they go to a DAC (which I do believe has a sound). Not clear why you are asking the question in that case.... 1
Keith_W Posted October 30, 2024 Posted October 30, 2024 5 hours ago, sir sanders zingmore said: Not clear why you are asking the question in that case.... There may be other reasons. Like, not wanting to buy anything with an Apple logo on it would be enough for me to choose the Roon machine. But then I would not buy a general purpose computer which has been crippled so that it is no longer general purpose either. Both of these machines are passively cooled with no moving parts, so that's a plus. Personally I would assemble my own PC (in fact, that's what I did). But that is substantially more expensive if you want it passively cooled. The case for my PC alone cost as much an M4 Mac Mini, not to mention the parts inside. I agree with the OP, room > speakers > amp > everything else.
Irek Posted October 30, 2024 Posted October 30, 2024 9 hours ago, Shhh said: I'm not sure I believe (any competent) digital sources have a sound. they put out 1s and 0s and they go to a DAC (which I do believe has a sound). The difference between digital transport is the same as between DACs. Sometimes the difference is very small and sometimes is very noticable. Anyway, nowadays every streamer can act as a server, even Wiim. Although it's getting more popular to attache HDD, SSD, USB stick directly to streamer.
Shhh Posted October 30, 2024 Author Posted October 30, 2024 9 hours ago, sir sanders zingmore said: Not clear why you are asking the question in that case.... wondering if I am missing something with the end user experience really.
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted October 30, 2024 Volunteer Posted October 30, 2024 1 hour ago, Shhh said: wondering if I am missing something with the end user experience really. I’ve run Roon for years on an ancient MacMini and have never had any issues. I imagine the end user experience would be identical (assuming the sound quality is identical - which you seem to and I agree with you).
Assisi Posted October 31, 2024 Posted October 31, 2024 6 hours ago, sir sanders zingmore said: I’ve run Roon for years on an ancient MacMini and have never had any issues. I imagine the end user experience would be identical (assuming the sound quality is identical - which you seem to and I agree with you). A Macmini as server should work fine with ROON. The issue could be the extent of noise that accompanies the streamed file. A higher quality server should/could provide an improved outcome. The relative quality of the components and or cables can impact the extent of any noise or interference that may accompany the streamed file. Lower noise floor means that the sound of the music is less masked. John
Superfuzzbigmuff Posted October 31, 2024 Posted October 31, 2024 The current versions of Roon Nucleus's are just Intel NUCs in a fancy box (I have the Nucleus Plus which is a NUC i7). Roon is pretty secretive about what these new boxes have inside them, so none of us know what we'd be buying, other than some fancy marketing blurb. Possibly the main advantage of the Nucleus is that it uses Roon ROCK (which you can also set up on a PC not a Mac as I understand it, which you'd load a Core up to). So you get to take advantage of a simpler Linux based operating system, without all of the baggage of say the macOS. In terms of your question of what advantages a Mac mini (particularly the M4 or M4 pro) might have over the Nucleus, the main one probably is that you can run something like hqplayer on it as well as Roon and take advantage of that software's superior DSP processing. If you're happy with just Roon, then probably a PC or Nucleus would do. I've used Roon for a while and find its music organisation first class, but the DSP underwhelming. If you are going to buy a Nucleus, I'd suggest looking at a superior power supply for it as the wall warts they supply are inferior to a LPS. I bought a power supply from Clay and the difference in SQ was stark, particularly using when using power hungry DSP, which I have on all the time. It doesn't look like Roon has done anything to improve the power supply with these new boxes. So if you throw that consideration into the mix, maybe it's cheaper to get a new Mac mini or PC?
Assisi Posted October 31, 2024 Posted October 31, 2024 For those who may be interested in MAC minis as cores and ROON there is a thread on the ROON forum that may be of interest. Whilst the thread is about m4, there is mention of the good capabilities of older MAC minis. The capability of running ROON is one thing. There is also the matter of the best server for the desired sound quality outcome required. That is big topic to which there is no definitive answer for all situations https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-on-mac-mini-m4-pro/284686 John
proftournesol Posted November 17, 2024 Posted November 17, 2024 On 31/10/2024 at 10:25 AM, sir sanders zingmore said: I’ve run Roon for years on an ancient Mac mini and have never had any issues. I imagine the end user experience would be identical (assuming the sound quality is identical - which you seem to and I agree with you). So have I; more than a couple actually, it's a 2012 Mac mini. I will have a different comparison soon, I've shifted my Roon Server onto RoonforNAS and have ordered a Sonnet Hermes Roon bridge. I was happy with the Mac mini but it's getting older and nothing these days uses Firewire to connect to my Weiss DAC. I'll report in a new thread on the change when the Sonnet arrives.
MattyW Posted December 12, 2024 Posted December 12, 2024 I moved from RoonOnNas on my Synology DS1621+ to running Roon ROCK on fanless Topton FU02 industrial pc + linear power supply to power it and have been blown away by its performance and reliability for less than the cost of a Mac Mini. Ryzen 7730U (8 core 16 thread) CPU 32GB RAM 500GB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD for ROCK + database 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD for media Updates are just more seamless and performance is incredible. I seem to be able to upsample as high as my systems will go and stream to all 4 zones with near instant responsiveness. Basically on par with what I get with JRiver on a local install for just 1 system…… And using just 1 zone it’s literally instant in terms of play, pause, randomly selecting a position inside the track. All instant. I know streaming itself is single threaded with Roon however that changes when running multiple DSP’s, upsampling etc so I went for pure overkill. Besides, the whole setup wasn’t even particularly expensive. I’m now sold on the benefits of Roon ROCK as well. Just zero maintenance. It just works. One thing I didn’t expect is a sonic improvement yet I’ve had one. Maybe due to the hardware being massively under-utilised so less electronic noise. Integrated audio and power to wi-fi was disabled in the bios and I removed the wi-fi card. All in all I’m exceptionally impressed with this thing. It’s not even a bad looking unit though the green power led is pretty bright. I’ve got around this by pushing it deep back under my entertainment unit so I don’t see it.
Recommended Posts