Best Server To Run Roon Core

@jmarshak 

I'm no engineer so take what I write with a grain of salt.  It has been a while since I moved the roon core off the statement and I cant say I remember what was different except that it was easily better.  

I think maybe reducing the processor demands on the Statement lowered noise and further improved its performance.  Innuos seems to have chosen a lower power processor for the noise benefits.  They say it can run roon core and it can but I think at the expense of a noise trade off.  I think I may have also been trying to upsample to DSD in roon- which I don't do any more because it sounds worse in my system now.

Since moving the core off the Statement I have spend the time working on the network; switches, cables, reclocking, fiber, re arranging dedicated lines, power conditioning and power supplies.  When I started I had a hard time listening to Tidal or Qobuz vs the Statement because there was such a drop in sound quality.  Now while the Statement is superior the gap is relatively small and Tidal and Qobuz Hi-Rez are amazing and occasionally better than the redbook files on the Statement.

The Antipodes Core is a purpose build Roon Core server and I think better than the Roon Nucleus's in terms of sound, not power.  I also think its a shame Antipodes unleashed a new product line shortly after releasing the CX/EX line making the CX/EX dated and devalued shortly after release.  I am watching the price of the CX tumble and plan to pick one up next year to replace the Antipodes Core to run roon core unless Innuos finally releases their OS update and it outperforms roon and has a reasonable search function to browse.

I put together a NUC that is equivalent to the Roon Nucleus +, added a 2 TB internal SSD, and bought a lifetime subscription to Roon, all for around $1600.  That's a deal in the hi-fi world.  I highly recommend it!  Roon is fantastic.  I ripped around 2k cds, put the CDs in my basement freeing up a ton of space, and now listen to music in 4 different systems around my house, two with Roon ready components and two with Rpi 4 + Ropieee (which works fantastic).

Here is a recap and update on my post above:
I am running a DIY Azulle Mini PC with a Kaby Lake i5. I installed 32GB RAM and a Samsung 250 GB M.2 SSD. I have tweaked the BIOS to have the i5 run in Turbo when needed. I added a SGC 12V 50W linear power supply. The Azulle is connected to my SOtM sNH-10G network switch with a DH Labs Cat 8 Reunion Ethernet cable. Another Reunion connects to a Sonore UltraRendu with a linear power supply. My SQ is at least as good as from the Innuos Zenith Mk3 that I sold. Depending on the amp backgrounds are black, soundstage is wide and imaging is good. No regrets with money in my pocket to deploy elsewhere. 

I appreciate the thoughtful views here and the positive experiences most have had with the Nucleus Plus. I want to offer a Caveat Emptor. I have had my Nucleus Plus  for 3 months and it has never functioned appropriately. The last straw is that I cannot copy music files to its memory. It loops constantly and I have to force quit the program. I have a list of other failures. Needless to say it is virtually impossible to communicate with Roon, and going on a week, there has been no,response. Crickets. I am beyond angry to now pitch a $3k device into a landfill. My son said don’t buy a hardware product from a software company. I should have listened. 

@lafayette2010 Every company has products that fail. No one is perfect but Roon service is usually extremely good. Did you post on the forum? Who were you talking to in support? Your ticket may accidentally have been closed. It is very unlike Roon to not follow up. They are usually incredibly responsive.