Simplest way to Roonify NDS

Already being produced just google Roon Nucleus+ spec server. Less than half the price.

You cant distribute ROCK itā€™s against the licensing agreement it has to be downloaded from Roon to be installed. So you always have to install it yourself.

The Nucleus+ alternative I bought came with Rock preloaded and was plug and play. I can only assume that given what is probably a small volume they are just downloading from Roon and not distributing per se.

Whatever the alternatives are out there.

Yeah there is plenty of pre assembled NuCs out there. You can also use alternatives to those to cut costs further. ROCK runs on pretty much any modem Intel based system. I got an i7 fanless prebuilt that runs it faultlessly and it cost me a little over Ā£500. Just built another ROCK as an endpoint using a fanless 3rd gen Atom based thin client. Itā€™s more stable than a pi and works better for USB connection to my DAC.

They are liable for that. I have seen some advertise it to, but they got done quite quickly by Roon. Not sure a pc can self install over the web that easily. Same for Roon bridge you can distribute that, so all the things that have it connect to Roon and download it. Itā€™s different if using the SDK as thatā€™s licensed I think.

You mean https://www.inside-tech.co.uk/fanless-roon-rock-music-server-intel-i7-7th-gen-nuc7i7?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpavpBRDQARIsAPfTwix8yDmxdLD9EJEUyVlauO1Fq8EBwv1gMpwcWsVxbPWuNjrD_QbRtmIaAk3AEALw_wcB?

Yes but last time I put the name up it got deleted so I donā€™t anymore. Seems strange to me that mainstream products can be mentioned but something like this cannot. Whatever best to obey the rules.

Edit - looking at the forum rules I think I put a link up which, fair enough, isnā€™t allowed. So given that I have not linked I think I am ok in saying that I bought one of these specced to better than Nucleus+ with a 2TB SSD also pre installed which now holds all my ripped and downloaded albums. Was plug and play and has been absolutely flawless in operation. Still with all of that well less than half the price of a Nucleus+.

But it is just a pre-built pre-configured NUC, they are just aligning the specs to those chosen for Nucleus and Nucleus+

Just the same as https://simplynuc.co.uk/nuc-products/

Yes but with ROCK pre installed so plug and play.

Iā€™m sure there are other options out there which are just as good. I think another forum member went to a place in Manchester and was similarly very satisfied.

Iā€™m just reporting my experience and my opinion that the Nucleus range is seriously over priced for what it is but thatā€™s Roonā€™s business.

Well I have a couple of spare NUCs (NUC5i3) that I can configure & build with ROCK and see if there is interest.

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It is but its for those who dont care for DIY and want something more akin to a Hifi device in the rack. To give them credit they did work with Intel very closely to get the most out of NuCs using their own OS. Also the case is very, very nice and better than anything off the shelf. Would I pay the price, no thatā€™s why I built me own, but a lot pay more for even less sometimes in this hobby. Also your supposed to get full dealer support with them. Cant argue though ROCK is amazing and free.

From Roon?, unlikely. But I am sure someone will pick them up.

Thanks Simon
I donā€™t do local streaming, so canā€™t compare to that.
I canā€™t hear a specific difference between 1st MQA unfold on dCS Network Bridge vs 16/44 PCM of the same recording, both from Tidal, in a series of careful AB tests of whole reference tracks and parts of those tracks.
Overall, MQA files seem to sound generally better than non-MQA ones - but obviously this could just be that theyā€™ve been selected to be better recordings, and that the MQA recording selection process filters out really bad recordings of a track. It may also be that the MQA encoding and decoding processes somehow also manage to make tracks sound ā€˜niceā€™. E.g. One way they might tend to achieve this by default might be the sign off process for MQA Studio versions. Anyway, Iā€™m not trying to divert this thread towards a discussion of MQA. Especially as Iā€™ve never knowingly heard an MQA-enabled DAC.
Casual listening to HiRes vs Redbook on Qobuz over the past few days doesnā€™t tell me thereā€™s a big difference, but I havenā€™t carefully tested this - will try to do it now if poss.
Anyway, you have a much better DAC and PSU than me, more expensive interconnects, etc, so perhaps can hear finer differences than my system offers up. (Although Iā€™m expecting a 555dr to arrive tomorrow).
So I take it from this thread that you think local streaming from USB storage plugged into a NUC is as good as a Melco or Innuous - or at least that things like Wyred4sound, Melco and Innuous are not worth spending money on - may as well use good basic IT gear for storage and spend the money on things that will have more impact on SQ.

Ah Simon! Maybe you have a future in politics. NDS is indeed good, but doesnā€™t approach ND555.

yes, but at what price ! the same was with cds3 and cd555. In the same way the nd555 doesnā€™t even approach a full stack dcs.
Even the entry level rossini / clock is on the same level as the nd555.
I have heard the 3 recently.

I donā€™t know what a ā€˜full stack dcsā€™ is, but I sure as hell never regretted trading my CDS3 for my CD555.

the cd555 was better of course, but you could easily enjoy the cds3, as the nds.
The full stack dcs is vivaldi dac, upsampler and master clock .

So why do we bother???
We bother because music means so much to us that we are prepared to make an effort to enjoy it to the fullest potential available within our resources, thus enabling enterprises like Naim to develop products like CDS3, CD555, NDS, ND555 and whatever is to come. If we all become cynical (which we wonā€™t!), improvement will die out, and we will too.

Yes, the ND555 is much better than the NDS in terms of SQ and functionality. It would seem the Sonore addresses the latter in expensively, but sound quality remains an issue. But I could have improved sound quality by spending a lot of money on a 552 long before the ND555 came along and chose not to. The lack of an NDS2 meant I either had to spend a big or go backwards to bring functionality up to date. This thread is telling me there is a cheap solution.

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i will not say that the nd5555 is much better. Itā€™s just better, like the cd555 was better vs the cds3.
I have the nds and heard the nd555 in a similar system at my dealer place.
The nd555 has the same characteristics as the nds, but is more confident, open, better focused and gives finer details.
As for functionalities, i personally donā€™t care, because i stream only locally. No tidal, qobuz and roon for me.
I prefer to spend 10 k elsewhere for now.

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