Intel NUC with ROON ROCK

[Sparky]

Hi all.

I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping you helpful lot can answer?

I currently use an Innuos Mini Mk3 music server running as a ROON core, it is powered by an Innuos linear PSU.
Due to my current transition from a passive pre/pro set up to an "active" speaker set up, I am looking to reduce my box count dramatically.
One of the items being sacrificed is the above Innuos system which I am replacing with an Intel NUC which I intend to install the ROON core on.
I have already stripped the NUC down and installed it into an Akasa Plato X7D Slim Fanless 7th Gen NUC Chassis.
It is a barebones system with no operating system, plenty of RAM, an SSD for the ROON core and a large SSD for starage.

My questions before I install ROON ROCK are:

Can I use the above NUC to serve a dual purpose or is it best left as just a ROON core.
The reason I ask is because I run a PLEX server via an NVIDIA shield for movies (Mkv files) stored locally and I wondered if I could lose the SHIELD and use the NUC to serve as both a ROON core and PLEX server?
I use TIDAL as a streaming service and have a medium sized existing music library.

Also, is it necessary to use a linear PSU brick with the NUC? Will the SMPSU cause any issues with degredation of sound quality?

The NUC with be connected to a miniDSP SHD via USB which is then connected to my Genelec 8341's.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Phorize]

I’m going to venture an answer without having run roon rock. The hardware should easily run both provided you aren’t doing cpu jntensive tasks such as heavy dsp or transcoding simultaneously. However, as roon rock is a proprietary system I don’t no how easy they make it for you to install other software. My understanding is that roon rock turns your nuc into an appliance. Sounds like you are past the point of no return so may as well install roon rock and have a go. If you don’t find it possible to install software on the roon distribution you should be able to install Debian or similar and install roon and whatever else you want.

 

[Sparky]

I’m going to venture an answer without having run roon rock. The hardware should easily run both provided you aren’t doing cpu jntensive tasks such as heavy dsp or transcoding simultaneously. However, as roon rock is a proprietary system I don’t no how easy they make it for you to install other software. My understanding is that roon rock turns your nuc into an appliance. Sounds like you are past the point of no return so may as well install roon rock and have a go. If you don’t find it possible to install software on the roon distribution you should be able to install Debian or similar and install roon and whatever else you want.

It must be possible surely. It seems I would have to run two operating systems simultaneously.
I'm not familiar with Debian so I'll look into that.

Thank you.

 

[Phorize]

It must be possible surely. It seems I would have to run two operating systems simultaneously.
I'm not familiar with Debian so I'll look into that.

Thank you.

You don’t need and can’t use two os’s unless you use virtualisation, which the nuc is not optimal for, looks like if you want both plex server and roon server running at the same time you can install them both on Debian or Ubuntu and doubtless other distributions. Plex seems available as a snap package so you may find Ubuntu works best out of the box if you aren’t used to administering a Linux system.

 

[DeLub]

If you want to both run Roon and Plex, you indeed can’t use Rock. Instead you should install a Linux distribution and install Plex and Roon Core yourself. I can recommend dietPi (also runs fine on a NUC), which makes it quite easy to install both Roon and Plex and lots of other useful stuff.

 

[Sparky]

I must stress that I am a complete NOOB with all this so am not familiar at all.

 

[Phorize]

I must stress that I am a complete NOOB with all this so am not familiar at all.

That’s probably why roon rock is appliance like, a very under demanding walled garden. I can’t speak for diet pi but you’ll find installing and setting up Ubuntu server straightforward if you go to the Ubuntu website and follow the instructions and links to help. It has sensible defaults and you can turn on automatic updates etc. If you are just running this on your own lan you can get away without running a special firewall config. If it’s available publicly totally different ballpark.

 

[Sparky]

That’s probably why roon rock is appliance like, a very under demanding walled garden. I can’t speak for diet pi but you’ll find installing and setting up Ubuntu server straightforward if you go to the Ubuntu website and follow the instructions and links to help. It has sensible defaults and you can turn on automatic updates etc. If you are just running this on your own lan you can get away without running a special firewall config. If it’s available publicly totally different ballpark.

Thank you very much for this. I'll look into how it all works and have a go at it.
This is why I've gone down this route, I can just leave it running silently in the background knowing it just works.
You could say the same for the innuos but the server combined with the linear PSU are two large boxes that the NUC replaces with a tiny form factor which does the exact same job.

Any thoughts on the need for a linear PSU for the NUC by the way?

 

[Phorize]

Thank you very much for this. I'll look into how it all works and have a go at it.
This is why I've gone down this route, I can just leave it running silently in the background knowing it just works.
You could say the same for the innuos but the server combined with the linear PSU are two large boxes that the NUC replaces with a tiny form factor which does the exact same job.

Any thoughts on the need for a linear PSU for the NUC by the way?

I can’t see why you’d need a special psu. Can you use the one the nuc shipped with?

 

[Sparky]

I can’t see why you’d need a special psu. Can you use the one the nuc shipped with?

Of course. You just read a lot about SMPSU's causing audio issues that's all.
It's probably a load of rubbish??

 

[Phorize]

Of course. You just read a lot about SMPSU's causing audio issues that's all.
It's probably a load of rubbish??

More rubbish than a meta analysis of studies into rubbish by Professor Rubbish, director of Rubbish studies institute at Rubbish University.

 

[Sparky]

More rubbish than a meta analysis of studies into rubbish by Professor Rubbish, director of Rubbish studies institute at Rubbish University.

made me laugh that bud.

No linear PSU then...

 

[zoran-grbic]

I'm afraid the NUC might not be powerful enough to do what the Shield is doing for you now without breaking a sweat. I've a Dell R510 with a Xeon 3GHz, 64Gb RAM and 1Gb network and it trans-codes Plex streams correctly with the amount of users using it. Anything less and it was painful.

Really, keep your Shield, you're not going to regret it.

 

[Sparky]

I'm afraid the NUC might not be powerful enough to do what the Shield is doing for you now without breaking a sweat. I've a Dell R510 with a Xeon 3GHz, 64Gb RAM and 1Gb network and it trans-codes Plex streams correctly with the amount of users using it. Anything less and it was painful.

Really, keep your Shield, you're not going to regret it.

I think you're right you know, it's too much of a gamble really.
The SHIELD works really well so why change it?

Got the NUC set up now. Just can't seem to be able to find it on my network for some reason? Weird.

 

[zoran-grbic]

...

Got the NUC set up now. Just can't seem to be able to find it on my network for some reason? Weird.

Hmmm, normally it’s a fully automatic install and Roon gets its IP address from your network, like any other device. Then your Roon controller (desktop app) finds the Roon server.

Make sure you have your wifi on and your Roon Controller is on the same network. E.g. if you use your phone or tablet as a controller, make sure your wifi is on. Using your dataplan won't work. That's how I wasn't able to "find" mine on the network when installing it for the first time.

What I find very helpful is a network scanner app on my iPhone. This one is very straight-forward and simple to use: "Net Analyzer". Must exist on the Play Store for Android too.

It gives you a list of all devices that are available on your network. Very helpful to get the IP address of a printer or a device that doesn't advertise it.

 

[zoran-grbic]

I think you're right you know, it's too much of a gamble really.
The SHIELD works really well so why change it?
...

That's when you realize where the saying "Don't fix it if it ain't broken" comes from.

 

[Sparky]

Hmmm, normally it’s a fully automatic install and Roon gets its IP address from your network, like any other device. Then your Roon controller (desktop app) finds the Roon server.

Make sure you have your wifi on and your Roon Controller is on the same network. E.g. if you use your phone or tablet as a controller, make sure your wifi is on. Using your dataplan won't work. That's how I wasn't able to "find" mine on the network when installing it for the first time.

What I find very helpful is a network scanner app on my iPhone. This one is very straight-forward and simple to use: "Net Analyzer". Must exist on the Play Store for Android too.

It gives you a list of all devices that are available on your network. Very helpful to get the IP address of a printer or a device that doesn't advertise it.

Yeah, I followed the instructions to the letter including flashing the BIOS etc etc.
The problem I had is with the CODEC install.
I just could not see the "ROCK" on my network at all.

I ended up manually typing the network address in the start menu and I somehow found the data folder to install the CODEC into. Fudged it really but it worked.

I will definitely keep the SHIELD separate as it's so versatile that I would be foolish to mess with that! (Plus, it took me ages to set PLEX up)!

 

[ctbarker32]

My latest video investigates what is the Best Roon Music Server? Thanks for watching.