Roon Nucleus

I have Roon as well. The end point is a Sonic Transporter and I access the library from an iPad mini. I can say that Roon does not catalog my library to my liking and doesn't seem to recognize my compilation CDs. Not sure if it's a set up issue or something else but I got tired of figuring it out. All the extra content, tags, and feature are kind of useless to me, but i can see why others might like the. I don't think Lightning DS is the be all end all, but it catalogs my library the way I like, is easy to use, and they seem to have gotten past quality and support issues.

In comparison, I can't say one sounds better than the other, and I'm not even going to get into that discussion since digital is not that important to me. As for Roon, I can say it does take a bit to create the library, but I haven't experienced what you have. Then again my library is about 25% the size of yours. I've been pretty happy with Synology, Minim Server, and Lightning DS so I guess I'll leave well enough alone.

 I know bubkes about IT, but it appeared that the Roon software, which must be extensive, overwhelmed the Computer.  I am guessing that I am not the only person that has had this issue and that Roon has realized that their product may perform better on a dedicated Linux Computer optimized to run their product.  I am also guessing that they just don’t want to come out and say this, because they don’t want to discourage people from buying the software.

I know nothing about the Nuclues.  But Roon's hardware requirements are modest and are listed on the website.  

With over 100,000 tracks, I am a very satisfied Roon user.  I originally installed the Roon core on a 2012 Mac Mini loaded with Windows Bootcamp.  I'm now using Windows 10 PC that I built as the Roon Core for audio and also using other software for moves -- i.e. a HTPC.  

With +100k tacks, no track loading delays or problems have been experienced.  I'm a big fan of Roon's interface and have no problems with how my music was originally organized.   

I entered the PC Audio world in 2006.  Since then, I have had several DAC's and tried several different Apple and Windows based music (software) players.  Roon is the latest and for my purposes is a winner. 

I use Roon with a Windows Surface and Laptop acting as remotes and it drives a microRendu connected to a Lampizator DAC.  I'm obviously very satisfied with Roon's sonics and I'm especially happy, because I intend to use Roon as the front-end of a whole house music system.  For that purpose, it just works -- no problems finding end points etc.

I am glad that there are a lot of happy Roon users out there.  All I’m saying is that I seem to suspect that there also people like me, where it doesn’t so smoothly....it’s a big mother of a program, after all.  And I still haven’t seen an explanation as to why Roon is now selling hardware.  I seem to recall their CEO in their early days stating that their goal was partner with as many hardware companies as possible, but not to compete with them

@audioengr - I have had my eye on the DigiOne player. Do you have any experience with wireless operation? I am interested more so in connectivity and whether there was any issue with dropouts, as a hardwired ethernet connection would be logistically difficult. My Aurilac Aries has always worked fine in wireless mode. I am also curious about set up. The instructions posted on the website seem a bit daunting but not impossible to deal with.