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Can you improve on this NUC spec for Roon and W10?


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I am putting together a computer which incorporates an approved Roon NUC, and is also powerful enough for me to dual boot into Windows 10 and perform flawlessly with very good speeds.

 

This is my list so far:

 

The NUC: Intel Nuc Baby Canyon Nuc7I7Bnh 2.5In (on the Roon supported list)

Storage: Samsung (MZ-V6E250BW) 250GB EVO PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive (nice and fast - plus enough storage to dual boot Roon Core and W10)

Memory: HyperX HX424S14IB2K2/16 Impact 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 2400 MHz DDR4 CL14 SODIMM 1.2V 260-Pin Memory Kit (responsive memory and abundant).

 

I would expect a stunningly fast compact PC when running W10, and I know it's more than enough for Roon Core on a dual boot config.

 

Can this be improved upon?

 

 

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A lot of us here are using Roon with audiolinux hence the lack of enthusiasm. See some of the threads below.

You can't dual boot, but I would suggest loading windows on the nvme and load audiolinux on a USB stick. Then you can boot into either system. 

As for the NUC it's good but you could also look at the 7i7dnbe/dnhe, it has a quad core processor with more cache and sounds great. 

A  2 box solution will give you even better sound, running roonbridge on an audiolinux endpoint, such as NUCPJYH or CJYH, you could use the larger NUC you quoted as a roonserver, preferably with audiolinux but can be used with windows. 

At some stage better power supply such as hdplex 200w to replace the bricks would be good.

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That's really informative thank you.

 

My Roon endpoint equipment will be sMS-200 Ultra with sPS-500 power supply - so I don't want to let the side down by streaming from a computer which may downgrade sound quality (if that's possible?).

 

Currently, I am streaming Tidal direct from the LMS server installed on the SoTM device itself - which is fine - but I've heard that Roon may improve the sound quality further (somehow) - so I would like to experiment.

 

Never heard of audiolinux (I have heard of Daphile though).

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There are a few OSes, besides Roon ROCK (custom Linux), that you can run RoonCore on. Audiolinux is the popular one now, but there's also Daphile like you mentioned, and Snakeoil OS, which no one ever mentions. 

 

My build out is like mentioned above:

NUC7i7DNHE

8GB (4GB x2)

Intel 118GB Optane PCIe nvme SSD

19V, 5A Linear PSU

Roon ROCK

 

I'll try giving the other Linux distros a shot sometime later. Audiolinux + optimizations on the NUC7i7DNHE is getting a lot of good press now, so I'm comforting myself that I have the right NUC for whenever that itch comes. A major motivator for me is being able to set the Roon approved NUC up, install the Roon approved ROCK OS, then leave the RoonCore all alone for a long ass time and just enjoy the rest of my system and music. I worry about the long-term stability with an unapproved OS.

 

That's my take. 

 

I also have several endpoints/renderers and support that whole "2 box" approach. I have many, many more than 2 boxes now. 

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25 minutes ago, Ben-M said:

There are a few OSes, besides Roon ROCK (custom Linux), that you can run RoonCore on. Audiolinux is the popular one now, but there's also Daphile like you mentioned, and Snakeoil OS, which no one ever mentions. 

 

My build out is like mentioned above:

NUC7i7DNHE

8GB (4GB x2)

Intel 118GB Optane PCIe nvme SSD

19V, 5A Linear PSU

Roon ROCK

 

I'll try giving the other Linux distros a shot sometime later. Audiolinux + optimizations on the NUC7i7DNHE is getting a lot of good press now, so I'm comforting myself that I have the right NUC for whenever that itch comes. A major motivator for me is being able to set the Roon approved NUC up, install the Roon approved ROCK OS, then leave the RoonCore all alone for a long ass time and just enjoy the rest of my system and music. I worry about the long-term stability with an unapproved OS.

 

That's my take. 

 

I also have several endpoints/renderers and support that whole "2 box" approach. I have many, many more than 2 boxes now. 

That's a very powerful NUC configuration you have there... that sort of power is completed wasted on just Roon - are you also running Windows 10 on this computer (which is my intention if possible).

 

It also gets my goat a bit that the even more powerful (but not on Roons list for support) Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i7BEH  costs only a little more than the NUC7i7DNHE

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3 minutes ago, airguitar said:

that sort of power is completed wasted on just Roon

 

There's a theory that having a lot of headroom, i.e. way more processing power than you need and loads of latency aids SQ.

 

This in part is why Roon advocate a two box solution when any one box could comfortably do the processing needed. There are other factors but it's part of it.

 

7 minutes ago, airguitar said:

but not on Roons list for support

 

Roon supported list is meaningless. As long as the basic specs are met you're good. I wouldn't waste any time worrying about whether it's on their list.

 

Cheers,

Alan

Synergistic Research Powercell UEF SE > Sonore OpticalModule (LPS-1.2 & DXP-1A5DSC) > EtherRegen (SR4T & DXP-1A5DSC) > (Sablon 2020 LAN) Innuos PhoenixNet > Muon Streaming System > Grimm Audio MU1 server > (Sablon AES) Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC > PS Audio M1200 monoblocks > Salk Sound Supercharged Songtowers

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17 hours ago, airguitar said:

That's a very powerful NUC configuration you have there... that sort of power is completed wasted on just Roon - are you also running Windows 10 on this computer (which is my intention if possible).

 

It also gets my goat a bit that the even more powerful (but not on Roons list for support) Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i7BEH  costs only a little more than the NUC7i7DNHE

Yeah, it's got enough smoke for sure. I specifically picked it due to the 4C/8T CPU upgrade over the 2C/4T ones from the previous generations. I'd bought it before all this Audiolinux stuff came up, so I sorta lucked out there if that stuff is "true".

 

I have a T+A DAC 8 DSD, so I upsample everything to DSD512. I'm also in the process of centralizing and expanding my library, where I should have >100,000 local tracks for Roon's DB within 2 months. Previously this would have directed me to the 2C/4T i7 NUC, so I figured why not get the still approved, newer 4C/8T DNHE model? 

 

I don't need any dual purpose machine, this one is totally bought for and dedicated to RoonCore and serving my network endpoints/renderers throughout the house. 

 

16 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

There's a theory that having a lot of headroom, i.e. way more processing power than you need and loads of latency aids SQ.

 

This in part is why Roon advocate a two box solution when any one box could comfortably do the processing needed. There are other factors but it's part of it.

 

 

Roon supported list is meaningless. As long as the basic specs are met you're good. I wouldn't waste any time worrying about whether it's on their list.

 

Cheers,

Alan

Why do you say the Roon approved list/support list is meaningless? 

 

For me, I'm not looking to tinker with my Core, I want it to be a DB handler and sit in a rack for several years. This is why I like the sound of "long-term support approved" or whatever they're saying they partnered with Intel for. 

 

For the tinkering side, that's where my renderers come in. Unfortunately with my main DAC, the DAC 8 DSD, it can only receive the DSD512 stream from a Windows PC, which limits the ways I can deploy a renderer. 

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On 1/17/2019 at 6:56 PM, BigAlMc said:

 

There's a theory that having a lot of headroom, i.e. way more processing power than you need and loads of latency aids SQ.

 

This in part is why Roon advocate a two box solution when any one box could comfortably do the processing needed. There are other factors but it's part of it.

 

Alan

 

That's interesting - so in theory if I stream Tidal directly from the sMS-200 it 'theoretically' should sound worse than streaming Tidal from the NUC (which does the processing) - then from the NUC the Tidal stream is then passed on to the Roon Ready sMS-200 using the more optimised Roon RAAT protocol?

 

That would be interesting if true, because I don't bother using Roon for any streaming services directly from the Internet - instead I use the appropriate plug-ins from Squeezelite served on the sMS-200 if you know what I mean.

 

Perhaps someone can clarify this understanding for me. I like to get the most from what I have.

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On 1/9/2019 at 2:33 PM, airguitar said:

That's really informative thank you.

 

My Roon endpoint equipment will be sMS-200 Ultra with sPS-500 power supply - so I don't want to let the side down by streaming from a computer which may downgrade sound quality (if that's possible?).

 

Currently, I am streaming Tidal direct from the LMS server installed on the SoTM device itself - which is fine - but I've heard that Roon may improve the sound quality further (somehow) - so I would like to experiment.

 

Never heard of audiolinux (I have heard of Daphile though).

You really owe it to yourself to try AL as Roonserver OS... I predict you won't want to go back to Windows and Roon. I know I don't. And as long as your BIOS is UEFI you can boot from USB stick, leaving your windows installation  unaffected. And unlike Rock, AL is not hardware limited, use any machine with i5 or better CPU for good Roon performance streaming to  your SMS200.

Regards,

Dave

 

Audio system

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On 1/10/2019 at 6:33 AM, airguitar said:

My Roon endpoint equipment will be sMS-200 Ultra with sPS-500 power supply - so I don't want to let the side down by streaming from a computer which may downgrade sound quality (if that's possible?).

 

I've tried Audiolinux being discussed above, for running Roon Server and running it as an endpoint, on a NUC7i7DNHE.

 

From personal (subjective) experience (not expertise), I'd stick with you original plan, running Roon Server on Windows 10, assuming you need to use Windows for other stuff. 


Your endpoint is very high quality.

 

On 1/8/2019 at 10:50 PM, airguitar said:

This is my list so far:

 

The NUC: Intel Nuc Baby Canyon Nuc7I7Bnh 2.5In (on the Roon supported list)

Storage: Samsung (MZ-V6E250BW) 250GB EVO PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive (nice and fast - plus enough storage to dual boot Roon Core and W10)

Memory: HyperX HX424S14IB2K2/16 Impact 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 2400 MHz DDR4 CL14 SODIMM 1.2V 260-Pin Memory Kit (responsive memory and abundant).

 

This should work nicely!

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All interesting - but my question earlier which is sorta bugging me right now is, will streaming Tidal via Roon first, from which the NUC takes on board the processing overhead - after which its sends the stream via Roon's optimized RAAT protocol to the sMS-200 Ultra as an end-point, theoretically sound better than streaming Tidal directly from the sMS-200 itself locally?

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