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Should I get a Roon Nucleus?

Hey folks,

I just discovered Roon after using Bluesound for years. I have the new Bluesound Node wired with a Cat7 Ethernet cable. I love the Roon interface. My node streams to both my Focal Arche and Rotel RA-1592. I just use Qobuz at this point (recently ditched Tidal). I have an iMac M1 as my Roon core currently. What do you think the Nucleus or the Nucleus+ would accomplish in my system? Thanks!

128x128dmmichalowski
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,443 posts
 

@jbuhl bump in sound quality from only changing roon core? I get the stability part though….

jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
1,012 posts
 

bump in sound quality from only changing roon core?

Yep I think so.  I was comparing Roon side by side with my Bryston BDP Pi running MPD/Manic Moose and streaming Qobuz.  The Bryston bested the iMAC/Roon hands down enough so I was considering not anteing up for ROON.  Switching the to SGC brought it close enough that I opted for the ROON subscription.   Switched the Bryston to ROON ready, done. I think having the core running on a dedicated device is critical for squeezing the most out of ROON.  Note: Radio Paradise still sounds a tad better when streamed (16/48) directly off the Bryston. 

patrickdowns's avatar
patrickdowns
523 posts
 

I second the comment "I would also look at a Small Green Computer"

I have their Sonictransporter and it is excellent. Great customer support, and the same or better functionality as the Nucleus (which is sexy looking, but overpriced imo).

I would get this bundle, which includes the Sonore Utrarendu (really a good upgrade): SGC bundle (click link) You can choose the size of the internal SSD drive you want (I have 2TB).

ROON is great—I can’t imagine life without it now.

small-green-computer
19 posts
 

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