Qubuz in the USA is just around the corner.

[Dth31]

[QUOTE=Mike;260784]To me, the Nucleus should be used to run Roon Core. Period. I still prefer a NAS for storage duties. RAID 5 or whatever and go.

I’m seriously considering your advice, Mike. Roon core runs fine on my Mac, but the remote app frequently won’t run at all on my iPad. Interestingly, even when the remote app doesn’t run on my iPad it runs fine on my iPhone. But the iPhone screen is too small to enjoy reading all the extra Roon content, which is one of the things I like about Roon.

[aKnyght]

To me, the Nucleus should be used to run Roon Core. Period. I still prefer a NAS for storage duties. RAID 5 or whatever and go.

interesting -- other than the on board storage of the nucleus being limited to only one 2.5" SATA drive which caps the storage and precludes backup/raid configs, are there other reasons / issues that would have you prefer NAS?

[Randy Myers]

[QUOTE=Dth31;260791]

To me, the Nucleus should be used to run Roon Core. Period. I still prefer a NAS for storage duties. RAID 5 or whatever and go.

I’m seriously considering your advice, Mike. Roon core runs fine on my Mac, but the remote app frequently won’t run at all on my iPad. Interestingly, even when the remote app doesn’t run on my iPad it runs fine on my iPhone. But the iPhone screen is too small to enjoy reading all the extra Roon content, which is one of the things I like about Roon.

I have never had an issue running the Roon Controller on my Android tablet or Microsoft Surface Pro tablet... however I remember having issues keep the iPad connected when I helped at RMAF last year.

[Randy Myers]

interesting -- other than the on board storage of the nucleus being limited to only one 2.5" SATA drive which caps the storage and precludes backup/raid configs, are there other reasons / issues that would have you prefer NAS?

If I remember correct you can also mount external drives to a Nucleus.

I prefer internal drives rather then relying on the network to stream from a NAS.

[Kingrex]

If I remember correct you can also mount external drives to a Nucleus.

I prefer internal drives rather then relying on the network to stream from a NAS.

Internal SATA direct to the MB with a dedicated linear style voltage regulator and or additional linear PS are generally better than external. The Asus M170M-plus MB takes at least 4 SATA drives. Only 1 is being used in the Nuc +. You could easily fit another drive or 2 in the case but you would want to power it/them with a external linear PS. They look to be sandwiched between some 1/4" AL plates for I assume vibration dampening and emi rejection. Not hard at all to recreate.
I have found with decent ethernet cables and my Linear Solution switch, its really all but impossible to tell whether the music is better from my nas or my internal drives. I don't bother with music on my internal drives accept for what I store in the offline library with Qobuz. It does sound better in the offline library than streamed.

If I were to put a linear PS on my NAS, who knows, it might start to sound better as the data packet is going through a very nice Femto clock switch as opposed to what ever clock is between the internal drive and MB. It also hits a JCAT Femto ethernet card on a dedicated PS when it enters my server. Thats a lot of good clocking and isolated power.

[Skanda]

I don't know how to respond to someone who thinks a pre-built music server is magically different then a custom built computer. As a software engineer and someone who has built and customized computers for 30+ years I can say there is no major difference other than the enclosures, software configuration, and marketing.

I also worked for a while with someone who offers music servers and Roon Nucleus in their lineup of equipment. I have taken them apart, ordered parts, etc. The CPUs, RAM, HDD/SDD, etc., come from the same distribution channels (same parts). It really is a matter of how they are configured hardware, casing, OS, software, etc. And thus, for my purposes I can in fact build a computer that is in fact a dedicated music server. It does nothing but serves my music to my DAC, ala dedicated. Just because it does not have a label on the front that says music server does not mean it cannot be a dedicated music server.

No matter what magic mojo some people try to sell, they are in fact... all computers at their heart.

I would put my digital front end against most anything out there under $20k-$30k or more (yes I don't claim to be able to compete against the MSB, Lampi's, etc.). Our audio club considers my digital front end the standard to which others are compared... not saying it is the best, only saying if you know what you are doing you can do pretty darn good.

Randy, curious about your choice of using a Falcon Tiki. How did you come to picking out this component? I haven't been into pc hardware for a number of years now but I remember back when I was Falcon was known for having amazing case work but nothing spectacular under the hood in the sense that you could buy all those components and put them in a more modest case for much less. Certainly not trying to question your choices or anything - just curious why you chose a falcon vs. building your own given your experience and your comments about pc's vs. music servers (which i mostly agree with but don't have enough experience with music servers to consider myself an authority)

[Randy Myers]

Randy, curious about your choice of using a Falcon Tiki. How did you come to picking out this component? I haven't been into pc hardware for a number of years now but I remember back when I was Falcon was known for having amazing case work but nothing spectacular under the hood in the sense that you could buy all those components and put them in a more modest case for much less. Certainly not trying to question your choices or anything - just curious why you chose a falcon vs. building your own given your experience and your comments about pc's vs. music servers (which i mostly agree with but don't have enough experience with music servers to consider myself an authority)

I have always felt that Falcon builds superior PCs, yes as you noted they make some of the finest cases available anywhere. They still created and build their own. They also are one of the better companies at matching components and their assembly work is always top notch. The reason I use and recommend the Tiki is because it is a smaller but amazingly well made case. But more importantly I choose Falcon because they have the inside track so to speak. They have been building custom computers for about 30 years now and almost always get the best of the best parts. There truly is a variance in parts and what someone will go out and purchase themselves will not always be the same grade A that Falcon gets. They also have pull with the manufactures and will sometimes get custom firmware, etc., that other companies do not have access to. In other words, I consider them the best. This is my opinion from dealing with them for the past 15+ years.

Even back when I was purchasing gaming machines for my wife and me I got to the point where I preferred to get a Falcon and then modify it if I wanted something else. I would usually have them leave extra connectors for additional hard drivers, etc., when I had them build us new machines. They would customize the machines to my preferences. I remember spending a week in Medford (taking care of arrangements for my brother in law, he lived there). We had an off day and Falcon invited Cheryal and I to come over to their facilities. Very impressive organization and it was nice to meet the folks I had spoken with on the phone so many times.

I also state that someone who wants to build their own may very well come close to what Falcon offers. Of course you could not purchase as good of case as they offer, but you could probably come up with similar parts and do a very good job on your own, if someone was so inclined.

[Skanda]

is the tiki relatively silent? have you been able to compare it to something like an aurender? iirc a top end tiki is not too far off from an n10 in pricing. i have trouble putting that kind of money towards a music server considering how much value i'd get out of a computer of the same amount (i work with very large amounts of data so any extra processing power is always welcome)

[Randy Myers]

My Tiki is quite. I do hear it if I am right next to it, but hardly anything. Certainly hear nothing from just a few feet away. The Tiki's are powerful machines. How powerful is up to you, I do not believe that a top end machine is required, but if you don't mind spending the $$$.... I figure about $3k will get you an excellent Tiki that will serve the purpose well. My Tiki is a few years old now, so certainly not as powerful as current offerings from Falcon Northwest, but plenty enough. I run Roon and HQPlayer. If it can run HQPlayer without a hitch it is getting the job done....

Mine has a Devil's Canyon CPU, 16 GB RAM. I have removed any spinning drives, hard drive and optical. I have three SSDs running in the machine and all is well.

[nicoff]

I have a Tiki. I first heard of the Tiki through Randy. Research that I did online confirmed many of the things that Randy mentioned. The Tiki is really silent and is a great machine.
I am using it as a dedicated audio computer running Roon and HQPlayer. The only time I can hear anything is at the start of a music session and HQP is demanding a ton of power. The fan noise lasts a few seconds and then goes away.
I much prefer to pay a little bit more and purchase a custom built machine like the Tiki than trying to save a few bucks building one on my own. Peace of mind for me. Ymmv.

[Skanda]

thanks, will look into it some more. I am running roon core on my daily driver mbpro and using a metrum ambre as my roon endpoint. so far, very happy with it. i can't imagine i'd get much of a sonic change from taking roon core off my mbp and onto a machine dedicated solely for audio (tiki or music server or otherwise) but happy to hear differing opinions.

qobuz looks great - i'm somewhat locked into tidal given how many people use my account (including my parents who use it for their sonos system) but if its the real deal i'm happy to sign up for both. i've signed up for the beta but not sure i'll be selected any time soon.

[Randy Myers]

Randy, if your home made server does not have a linear PS feeding it with at least 2 HD plex or better voltage regulators, well, it does not "sound" good. Server upgrades have been far more audible to me than dac upgrades. The Mojo Mystique V3 dac upgrade was actually pretty big, but the server build is very audible.
A store bought plastic case is a big vibration and noise amplifier. A store bought smps is just junk. Sorry Randy.

Now, if your feeding an Ultra Rendu from your server over ethernet, your a lot closer to success with getting good sound. If you dont have an audiophile switch, that gigafoil in another thread wil probably be another very audible improvement.
By the way, if you want an HDplex voltae regulator, i have one to sell. You still need a PS.

Well Rex, Falcon Northwest is certainly not junk .... One of the finest custom computer builders anywhere. They make solid metal cases and mine is also mounted on a sheet of Granite. They use the highest grade gold standard power supply that money can buy... I also have mine going off the high current jack on the AudioQuest Niagara 1000.

I also use a W4S Recovery that has its own Femto internally. I use two AQ Coffee cables and an iPower power supply.

I certainly know there is better out there, but it is about as good as I can afford ....

I guess it is to each his own... but most members in our audio club consider my digital front end (which includes the server) to be tremendous. I might have stone ears, but mine sounds pretty darn good ....

[Bachtoven]

I accepted their invitation to try the US Beta version. I downloaded the Windows app to my laptop (HP with Windows 10), but it doesn't work--it instantly freezes! I contacted their customer service but no response yet. In the meantime, I've tried both the 32 and 64 bit versions, rebooted a few times, ran a system and file check--all to no avail. The web version works, but my laptop won't play any resolution higher than 16/44.1 with the built-in audio card. (I want the app so I can play up to 24/192.)

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you solve it?

[Jack]

There are issues with the Windows 10 operation but to get more answers and help you really need to ask these questions on CA/AS where the US staff is monitoring the Beta.

[CPP]

I accepted their invitation to try the US Beta version. I downloaded the Windows app to my laptop (HP with Windows 10), but it doesn't work--it instantly freezes! I contacted their customer service but no response yet. In the meantime, I've tried both the 32 and 64 bit versions, rebooted a few times, ran a system and file check--all to no avail. The web version works, but my laptop won't play any resolution higher than 16/44.1 with the built-in audio card. (I want the app so I can play up to 24/192.)

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you solve it?

Might be a reason why I have not had any problems with my Beta with windows, but I'm using Win 7-64

[Bachtoven]

There are issues with the Windows 10 operation but to get more answers and help you really need to ask these questions on CA/AS where the US staff is monitoring the Beta.

Thanks. I just posted there.