Lifetime Roon is a go - alternative to Roon Nucleus

My NUC doesn't have a fan. As I've mentioned if you want a Nucleus clone, one that runs ROCK you need to make sure it matches the list.

Core Server. The models we support are:

• NUC5i3xxx
• NUC5i5xxx
• NUC6i3SYx
• NUC6i5SYx
• NUC7i3BNx
• NUC7i5BNx
• NUC7i7BNx
• NUC7i3DNx
• NUC7i5DNx
• NUC7i7DNx
• NUC8i3BEx
• NUC8i5BEx
• NUC8i7BEx
• NUC10i3FNx
• NUC10i5FNx
• NUC10i7FNx

Why is a ROON Nucleus better than a generic ROON headless server? ROON themselves have stated that you do not need a perfect machine for the headless server.

In the last 3 weeks I installed the ROON server on a 24 Core + 96GB RAM server. Another server with 12 Cores + 24GB RAM. Plus another with 4 Cores and 16GB RAM. I used a Sonore microRendu as the convertor to the DAC. In all 3 cases the ROON server seemed to work with the same level of quality. I had the same excellent sound in all 3 cases.

The big server was in my garage and the bits had to travel on a Powerline copper network to my microRendu. Still sounded the same as the other 2 machines which were closer to the DAC.

so including the so including the roon core inside a streamer box, eg. innuos zenith is not a problem.  Value of a stand-alone headless roon core device Is not a concern.

i would like to avoid having a separate box like a roon nucleus, when it could be integrated inside a quality streamer device. A nuc looks kinda cheap vs a nucleus, but avoiding need for it is worth pursuing.

you can get a 2012 Mac Mini on eBay with a solid state drive for < $300 that will work just fine as a Roon server. Yes, it has a fan, but you will never hear it

Buy an Innous Zen mini. Storage, Roon core and DAC in one box.