Thanks for your response, but it’s the roon stream (RAAT) I compare in both cases. File location is the only difference, placed on nas or a copy on the internal ssd drive in the NUC.
Ahh so the NAS and internal SSD sound different on Roon… and you are streaming Roon via RAAT over the Ethernet?
If so then there could be various variables, like difference of Ethernet frame timing characteristics affecting your streamer.
Is your streamer and DAC seperate or one of the same? If the latter then it can be more sensitive to such things.
I have experimented with transcoding a few files on the SSD to wav from aiff, and possibly I have a slight preference for wav using the internal storage in the NUC/Rock…
Hmm… RAAT transcodes to PCM anyway. Again if your streamer and DAC are totally seperate from your Core, id be surprised this has much of a bearing.
On my Core streaming RAAT over Ethernet to my NDX2 transport I hear no difference at all between physical location of media.
ND555 and NUC/Rock on EE switch connected Cisco that is connected to router, NAS connected to Cisco.
Ok, try a different DAC plugged into your ND555, do you still hear a difference? I don’t. (Ie SQ difference based on physical location and source with all other things being equal)
I know it might not help you, but I am a staunch believer in seperate transports and DACs and I just don’t run into these issues.
I would if I had one, this is my first steamer. I quite surprised to what degree everything seem to matter with streamed audio, switches, servers, cables and now file location… does it end?
Well it does end with decoupled streamer and DAC in my opinion. Then things like switches, cables, routers, Yada Yada Yada becomes almost completely irrelevant, certainly with the new streamer transports.
Perhaps you can understand why I am a fervent believer in DAC/transport separation. Life is too short and I just want to enjoy the music without irritation 
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Try rotating EE switch with the Cisco. If the streamer and NUC are attached to the EE but, you preferred the sound when the music was on the other end of the Cisco (NAS) with the EE being the last step. This way, if it still doesn’t sound as good you can discount the switch position/ order as not being the cause of the difference.
Yes, maybe going all in on ND555 was not the most sensible move, but the first I though clearly out performed my CDS3 so maybe it is just that it’s extremely revealing? And it really do sound fine! But, will try to borrow a dac and compare at some point!
The ND555 is hugely revealing and capable, hence why these things show up. (In my opinion).
I have been driving my NDX2 into a Chord DAVE and things arguably don’t get much more revealing than that… and by decoupling this way I have saved myself some grief.
With the ND555 with analogue out you will find a set of digital media flows that sound optimal and no doubt wonderful… but I suspect will have a greater risk of finding some flows sounding ‘off’ as perhaps you have encountered? But if you fiddle around with your switches and leads you might find a combo that sounds good.
Thanks, good idea! Will try that later and report back! I will also try eliminating it and connect the EE switch and Nas direct to the router and see what that does, but really liked what the EE/Cisco did for Tidal…
What do you think, is there anything worth doing in the NUC/BIOS? E.g disable wireless etc., or is that disabled anyway when using ROCK?
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Not sure… I just followed the Roon setup instructions for BIOS. I didn’t transfer the WiFi receiver over to the fanless case as I knew I was going wired. So, switching it off in the bios I guess takes it out of the equation.
Don’t know about the earlier NUCs but the 10th gen have internal antennas (I assume). Anyhow, I disabled WLAN and Bluetooth in Bios this morning no huge difference. But also decided I preferred wav to aiff and transcoded my internal music to wav overnight, so more than one change. Anyhow, will leave it as is now for awhile:-)
Ps. When transcoding I changed the Cisco to a Netgear 1Gb switch for speed reasons, but honestly not sure it is a downgrade sonically either so that stays as well.
The 7th gen, when you open the case has a circuit board with a couple of wire antennas that run around the top of the NUC case (inside). When transferring it to a fanless case, you take out the mother board, detach the fan, heat sink and in my case, the wires that plugged into the Bluetooth, WiFi circuit board. I could have detached the wires… it would’ve been a little fiddly but, as I wasn’t going to use it decided not to. Never seen inside the 10th gen… could well be part of the main motherboard.
Hopefully things settle down and you get the sound you want 
Thanks, I just want to get the best out of the setup and it really sound good.
I was just expecting the internal storage to sound at least as good as external on NAS as Michaelb reported earlier in the tread. And now after changing to wav I believe it does! So happy!
@Michaelb, do you mind sharing what file format you use?
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It’s always a good feeling when you resolve a problem… especially when it results in a great sounding system … enjoy
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I use FLAC (mainly for metadata ease) transccoded to WAV by the Nucleus
Thanks for replying, originally chose aiff for tagging and being lossless and used with Apple iPhones etc. I made an unscientific experiment yesterday and transcoded an album from aiff to wav, FLAC (normal) and Alac using XLD added to Rock internal storage and my ranking from comparing a few tunes back and forth a few times was: 1 wav, 2 (close) FLAC, 3 Aiff, 4 Alac.
And since I currently have space I transcoded aiff to wav, I believe with tags intact (except for not including covers to the files). And my plan was me stopping obsessing about this now. Then I stumbled on a quote from @frenchrooster in another thread preferring “uncompressed FLAC” so possibly not the end of obsessing about this…