How big an SSD do you need? You can get a 4TB Samsung QVO SATA3 SSD for less than $500.
3tb should do it.
Same here.
With my new dCS Rossini which does upsampling on its own I am inclined to use that rather than what Roon offers
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FWIW I used on instructions on the room website and bought the Intel Nuc device, memory, HD and was done under $600 or so - but might be mistaken. I got an i5.
Not possible to audition whether this sounds any worse than the Nucleus or Nucleus+.
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Search for Samsung QVO SSD on Amazon. Or an EVO if you want better quailty for more money.
They come 1, 2, and 4 TB.
A NUC5i3 with 8G RAM and 240GB SATA SSD, library on a NAS
circa 6.5k albums, 85k tracks in 8TB library (over 55% is 24-bit)
To answer all those on this and the Roon forum, with ānot powerful enoughā and āyou need a latest generation NUC with i7ā etc.
I ran a full benchmark testing with 4 end-points simultaneously with DSP on each, so convolution filters, up scaling to DSD128/DSD256, downcoverting DSD256/DSD128 to DSD64, DXD to 24/192 and MQA 352 to 24/96 (i.e as much DSP as a user can do unless pushing to DSD512) and all zones played (same track in each, different tracks in the different zones), and the processing speed measurements were comparable as NUC6, NUC7 units with i5 & i7 CPUs.
No smoke from the NUC, no crashing, no overloaded status, no stopped processing etc.
So you donāt need the latest or greatest hardware to run ROCK to provide your Roon Core server. It is a headless, Ethernet only embedded server, running a lean optimized Linux derived OS with minimal drivers. It does not need hardware to run dual 4K displays, latest WiFi and Bluetooth.
It does need 8G RAM (16G only when your library is in 250k range) and an SSD for the database (dedicated drive), but a 128GB/240GB/256GB SSD is ample (my 240GB is 91%), have never heard of any ROCK user having a size issue with their library, and the initial requirement was for a 64GB SSD (just you canāt those anymore).
If you are interested benchmarks are here https://community.roonlabs.com/t/list-your-nuc-capabilities-here/78791/13?u=simon_pepper and here https://community.roonlabs.com/t/list-your-nuc-capabilities-here/78791/23?u=simon_pepper
BTW those having spent big $ on the NUC7i7 quad core type machines with 16/32GB RAM, but only 30k tracks, were very silent! 
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Except that some people claim that less total processing capacity used keeps noise down and improves SQ. On the other hand, some of the faster processors are reputed to be more noisy. So itās one of those things one canāt really know without auditioning.
Well a i5 or i7 CPU will generate more heat when under load, Turbo Clock speed etc.
so that needs more power to be drawn and āactiveā cooling if a fan based case.
Higher processing utilization in a CPU at the same clock speed will generate the same level of heat and consume the same power.
The power in a CPU is generated when the silicon junctions in each transistor have to be turned off and back on, each clock cycle.
So higher clock speeds more heat more power (of course this is just for Bipolar based CPUs, when I designed CPUs for mainframes (30 years ago) we used either BiCMOS or ECL technologies, which needed really cooling. In fact the cooling unit was as big as the CPU cabinet and had to be a environmentally controlled machine hall).
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Furthermore your ROCK or Nucleus is a general purpose computing platform, just running highly optimized dedicated for the job software.
Best away from the listening equipment, on the network, and then optimize the environment for the listening equipment and the network feeding it.
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This might open the debate again about whether R&D is a sunk cost. But you can understand a company wanting to recoup its investment I bringing a product to market.
Iām never quite sure about this number. My track size is 27,790 (1,880 on my main storage location after looking at the inspector), but the number of albums is 2,253 (1,642). But Iām sure that this latter number Is incorrect because with my classical collection so albums are listed as tracks rather than complete albums.
Thanks to @AndyR for this top tip.
I donāt think there is much R&D behind the Nucleus.
Not even sure they make money with it.
Roon is all about software, a very nice software!
The Nucleus is just a well thought way to sell Roon to a certain category of costumers.
Not everyone has the knowledge to deal with a computer, to understand the Roon architecture and to install the software. And even less able to build a NUC and install Rockā¦
Others simply donāt want spend time tinkeringā¦
The Nucleus is an optimal plug and plug solution.
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If you view albums, focus, inspector, storage locations, Roon will give a count of albums in each storage location, including internet.
Similarly for tracks.
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They worked very closely with Intel in designing what they required also in coding for RoonOS.
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As far as I know, all motherboards included in all versions of the Nucleus are stock boards (the Nucleus+ is a NUC7i7DN) .
The thing that might differ is the BIOS, allowing RockOS to closely control/monitor certain parts of the motherboard.
I think Iād disagree. Thereās a lot of work behind the Nucleus, and if your needs run to a quiet pretty box with minimal faff itās great. No idea if they make money on it, but it effectively buys them a future income stream if the user opts for an annual subscription.
There are other alternativesā¦ with different compromisesā¦
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I donāt think anyone is arguing that theyāre notā¦ the skill is in selecting the right board and optimising the software.
I donāt think the LINUX under pinning is board or device specific, itās going to run on any similar architecture.
There is nothing voodoo about it, just a well put together solution. Like the unitiserve was.
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Yes. Roon offer āROCKā for those who want to try a diy approach. Termed āMOCKā if installed on unsupported hardware.
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Exactly. And not fitting HW ancillaries on the board that are not required specifically for Roon.