Roon ROCK (Roon Optimized Core Kit) OS for NUC

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
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Not sure you guys are aware of this, but the Roon OS is now a thing and supported on Intel NUC (maybe all X86).

Since you can eliminate Windows and MAC operating systems will be trying this out very soon on our custom built models.

Anyone load or using this os right now?

https://kb.roonlabs.com/ROCK:_Getting_Started
 

Believe High Fidelity

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Yes using it now. Works fine No dramas.
Small size and quiet. Not much to say. I guess that is good.

Great. Will be fiddling around with this next month personally
 

microstrip

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Can we get the same type of screen resolution and functions when running Roon in a NUC? I really appreciate the Windows 1080 x 1920 resolution.
 

dsnyder0cnn

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Can we get the same type of screen resolution and functions when running Roon in a NUC? I really appreciate the Windows 1080 x 1920 resolution.

Hmmm...I don't believe that's the intended use for ROCK. I have not built one yet, but my impression was that you generally run this device headless...no keyboard or monitor.
 

Kal Rubinson

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Hmmm...I don't believe that's the intended use for ROCK. I have not built one yet, but my impression was that you generally run this device headless...no keyboard or monitor.

So I figured. That kills it for me.
 

nonesup

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ROCK is 100% headless.
Connection via browser to an IP address like, is done to the Sinology operating system. The downside is that it is not worth any dedicated mini PC, just the NUC (Intel) and not all of them. If you with a mini PC and get it to ROCK, Roon warns that I could stop doing it in later revisions.
 

Believe High Fidelity

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ROCK is 100% headless.
Connection via browser to an IP address like, is done to the Sinology operating system. The downside is that it is not worth any dedicated mini PC, just the NUC (Intel) and not all of them. If you with a mini PC and get it to ROCK, Roon warns that I could stop doing it in later revisions.

How can that be? If you are accessing the Roon core over IP then you can control, program, view etc through the browser. I dont see why I can't just add a monitor and keyboard/mouse since it is a NUC after all.
 

asiufy

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You can, but the point of the NUC is to use it headless, far away from your audio setup. As a Roon Core, it can feed a proper audio device, over the network, sitting close to the DAC (or inside the DAC, in the case of the MSB and PS Audio, for example).
 

Believe High Fidelity

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I agree. For the sake of a show or demo where a customer or visitor can see the selection there is value in a monitor and peripherals, but if you are in your listening chair with tablet or phone dont see a point in having one. Might as well just stick with vinyl :)
 

nonesup

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How can that be? If you are accessing the Roon core over IP then you can control, program, view etc through the browser. I dont see why I can't just add a monitor and keyboard/mouse since it is a NUC after all.


Yes it is a NUC, but ROCK which is the operating system (based on UNIX) does not provide video services.
 

Believe High Fidelity

[Industry Expert]
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Yes it is a NUC, but ROCK which is the operating system (based on UNIX) does not provide video services.

Ahh didnt dig deep enough to see the unix flavor. Thanks for that.
 

Believe High Fidelity

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Got around to putting it up against the main server and both used ULPS so it was apples vs apples. Turned out the DACs I was demoing over the weekend didn't have drivers that were compatible with Windows Server 2012 so ended up forcing use the ROCK in order for the drivers to all be compatible.

And so while there is certainly value and stability for its performance there is a significant margin of performance difference between the two. It is really too bad as I have hoped this would be comparable enough to use as a replacement when I loaned out the main media server.

I can still see there being an under 1k value (with Roon license) for those who want a Plug n' Play (somewhat...well mostly) solution using a NAS in their system. Not farting around with Windows and drivers is always welcomed in my dojo.

Cheers.
 

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