Roon Server - any good?

[Legolas]

Hello


I spotted Roon has 2 levels of music server finished product available. This is a different direction for them as prior they were 'only' software.

My interest in this is the price, it is cheap. Also I could use both Room (my preferred music player / library) and control it from an iPad.

This is interesting, but how good does it sound, i.e. does it complete with the Aurender units? The Aurender is not so attractive as I can't use Room, and also the really good Audeze EQ written by Audeze for the LCD4s.

Any experience with the new Room box?

https://www.stereophile.com/content/roon-labs-nucleus-music-server

 

[Kingsrule]

Get a SGC Sonictransporter i5 or i7 depending on how big your library is. I had a i7, went to the Nuc+ and then back to the i7. Cheaper and basically the same.

Sonically I felt the i7 MIGHT be a bit better but basically a draw. I have a SBooster MkII ps on it. That helped.
The down side is neither core can handle my 16,000+ library very fast. The SGC is a bit faster.
My inclination is at the level we are at, a tweeked W10 platform is the way to go. The SGM or Pink Faun appear to be the top choices

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I second the emotion. Get Small Green Computer instead, more powerful processing for the money, Andrew Gillis does the Linux programming and he's as good as anyone at this!

 

[steve59]

My int has a dac and I was having a lot of drop outs using my laptop to stream tidal so I bought the $1500 unit and it works flawlessly, not a single drop out and I appreciate the info it brings up on my selections. I would buy it again.

 

[agillis]

This is Andrew from Small Green Computer

A music server will work better then a laptop or home computer as a Roon server. Our sonicTransporter i5 is a great solution for Roon. It has a lot of processing power and built in SSD to make the Roon user interface snappy.

Make sure to get a Roon Ready network player for your DAC. There is a lot of noise coming out of a standard USB port. This can get into the analog side of you DAC. A player like our ultraRendu will give you much better sound out of your DAC then connecting to a USB port on a personal computer or music server.

 

[steve59]

While the nucleus locates tidal files and feeds my streamer flawlessly it, it being the roon software, can't locate a single music folder on any of my drives, on either pc itunes or windows media. In hindsight I have reservations about endorsing this product.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

While the nucleus locates tidal files and feeds my streamer flawlessly it, it being the roon software, can't locate a single music folder on any of my drives, on either pc itunes or windows media. In hindsight I have reservations about endorsing this product.

I think it is a problem in your network setup. I installed a Nucleus+ a month or two ago and it recognized all my music files on multiple devices.

(FWIW, I, too, have reservations about the Nucleus+ but they pertain only to its limitations in handling high resolution multichannel files with intensive DSP. Report in my next MITR, due out any day now.)

 

[admin1959]

Yes, I was going to suggest it is a permission problem or network problem. I have seen users with the Roon Nucleus locate files all over their network without any issues. Also 2 reviews I have read on hifi magazines built a big music archive in less than an hour and they had the data across external HDs, internal HD, SSD and online. Best to look further before trashing a product IMO.

 

[steve59]

You both are correct. I couldn't see it and I had all my sharing set correctly so I made my pc the core and voila My storage screen 'finally'looked like the picture in the instructions. At the same time my dealer called slightly frustrated with me that I didn't call him b4 going to the forums. He suggested since I was having trouble finding my way thru all the security firewalls on the pc I just get a usb drive, load my songs onto it and plug it directly into the nucleus. I have a BB 10 minutes away and within the hour I was playing MY music. It took me several hours to figure out why my screen didn't match all the screens on the help pages and if I had a mac or a pc with limited security software my experience might have been different. It works correctly now and i'm enjoying it.

To the Admin, I reread my post and I think saying i'm having reservations is a long way from trashing. That was you word and implication. The nucleus still only sees whats on the drive plugged into it so despite a solid 10 hours of going round in circles confirming all the permissions are on for file/music/picture/computer sharing my nucleus is still blocked. My reservation is some security software will make locating files on a pc more work than necessary and knowing what I know now I would have one without preloading my files on either a usb or internal drive or be very familiar with file sharing. That's my experience what else can I say.

 

[microstrip]

I have a W10 server running Roon - nothing special, just an old PC with 8G and an SDD and some optical fiber links to isolate from the home router. Can I integrate the JPlay FEMTO in this server using Roon?

 

[jturbo]

I have a W10 server running Roon - nothing special, just an old PC with 8G and an SDD and some optical fiber links to isolate from the home router. Can I integrate the JPlay FEMTO in this server using Roon?

Yes. Will work fine.

John

 

[Projectman]

Get a SGC Sonictransporter i5 or i7 depending on how big your library is. I had a i7, went to the Nuc+ and then back to the i7. Cheaper and basically the same.

Sonically I felt the i7 MIGHT be a bit better but basically a draw. I have a SBooster MkII ps on it. That helped.
The down side is neither core can handle my 16,000+ library very fast. The SGC is a bit faster.
My inclination is at the level we are at, a tweeked W10 platform is the way to go. The SGM or Pink Faun appear to be the top choices

My small green computer i5 handles my 90000+ library while running Roon Core with ease. No speed issues at all.

 

[Kingsrule]

90000 tracks or cd's? I'll bet its tracks

My number above is cd's, my tracks are 195,000