Best Server To Run Roon Core

I assembled a fanless i5 NUC and run ROCK which is Roons OS optimized for payback within their architecture. I have no idea if it sounds better than other options but ROCK is free, runs headless, updates in the background and has never crashed since I've been using it over 1 year now. It's also one of the cheaper options unless you have an old PC you can use.

@newtoncr -- I’ve heard a lot about Wolf Audio but never had the opportunity to audition their equipment. I would appreciate it if you can describe the improvements over Lumin and Innuos especially in terms of sonic abilities. Lumin is a well known and established company that has been building outstanding products. If Wolf Audio is a major upgrade, that is quite an achievement considering that it’s a family owned business. Looking forward to your comparison.

I doubt you'd notice a difference in SQ among the major choices**.
It comes down more to price, ease of integration and use, along with what else (if anything) you might want to do with the machine besides run Roon.

Options include:
* raspberry pi (probably the cheapest option; many users seem to be quite satisfied with them; involves a little DIY setup)
* Nucleus (a little pricey, but probably the easiest turn-key solution for running Roon Core)
* Nucleus alternatives such as the sonicTransporter, which tend to be a little cheaper than the Nucleus, possibly with faster processors, plus support for a few music-related applications besides Roon Core (such as HQ Player)
* Mac Mini (possibly a good choice if you might want a full-featured computer for tasks unrelated to Roon; compared to a Roon Nucleus, you'll probably pay less to get more, including faster processing, but this choice goes against some recommendations to dedicate a computer only to Roon processing)

** BACCH-SP not only can be configured to run as a Roon Core or endpoint, but also applies sophisticated "audiophile 3D" processes that do affect the SQ (soundstage/imaging) significantly. Very expensive, though.  

Te yes these devices do sound different one day we did a test in our 150k reference system 

We compared a 15k baetis reference an innous statement a memory player

Each server sounded different and had a unique sonic favor

Lalik the 432 evo was compared to the Pink faun and found to outperform it

And in one of our sound rooms we have 4 different servers

We have a roon nucleus
A lumin u1 mini
a 432evo standard and a 432Evo aeon

Again the top server the aeon sounded the Bestand produced a more musical sound out of the dac

If you look at the design and build of the aeon it has been enginerred to provide a pure data stream to the connected dac

Very few servers use two completely seperate power supplies isolating the cpu and the sound card and clock

If you want to hear rhe Best sounding reference grade server
You have to hear an aeon

Dave and troy
Audio intellect nj
Us importer 432evo music servers