Roon Optimized Core Kit
 

I've just finished installing the Roon Optimized Core Kit (ROCK).

Super simple to setup and being an Intel NUC its very compact.

Anyone using a Macbook or similar device for USB to their DAC this is a great alternative.

https://kb.roonlabs.com/ROCK:_Getting_Started

The link gives all the information you require and even a quick checkout to Amazon to purchase all the hardware.

I used an Intel NUC 7i7BNH with 8GB DDR4 Crucial Memory and Samsung EVO 960 SSD m.2.

All installs off a USB (instructions in the guide), plug in to the network and you are aware. FYI if you plan on using Wifi like me, you need to plug in first to be able to connect to the Web Interface to setup the Wifi etc.

Then use your iPad, login and point it to your NAS or Tidal account, DONE!

All in all, awesome and for under $1k.

http://a64.tinypic.com/2z4l0f9.jpg

+1 I just installed basically the same intel NUC with 16GB/960 EVO running ROCK to replace my study iMac running ROON Core. Super simple and highly recommended

I have it connected to network to manage library/processing to various DACs that are ROON Ready

Thanks for posting, guys. I've been curious about this since I saw the intro. It wasn't available when I got started with roon. I ended up going with a dedicated computer w/ roon core loaded. It's a sonicTransporter from Simple Green Computer. I got mine with a SSD drive to avoid a separate NAS. So far so good on mine. If it ever dies I would probably go the route you have gone. Simple is good!

How would you guys describe the noise level from the computer. Are they cooled with a fan? If so, is it silent enough to keep in your listening room?

As you can see from my post, I don't have a NUC. However, my sonicTransporter is silent. You can get up to 4T SSD storage.

Mine is dead quiet. I do not have a fanless case but it is dead quiet and I do have it in my listening room to have connected to same Ethernet switch as my Vivaldi. My NAS is in a downstairs equipment room near the router. Since I use the Vivaldi upsampler I do not have the Roon software doing any sampling rate or post processing which may be why It's runs cool. Considering an external LPS but for now keeping it pretty simple

The Sonic Transporter seems to do a lot of things "right". F ex I like the way they've added a second Ethernet output.

Yes, it works well and was super simple to set up.

Yes, good, but it comes along with their choice of mother board. I've had that for years.

Ahh. Thought they were "first" on this one. A second Ethernet connection would be a very interesting solution when I take my first step into "computer audio". I would guess one port for WWW and one for NAA makes for a sonically "safer" set up than having a solo port witch in my case means going through 2 switches.