[yertletheturtle]

I am abandoning my 2009 Mac mini as a USB music server.  The amount of energy and add-ons that it took to get it to sound good was overwhelming.  I was stuck playing a 10 year old version of iTunes on iOS 10.6 for fear that the drivers for my OffRamp USB transport would cease to work.  Amara and Audiorvana sounded good but the whole interface was clunky and trying to run it headless was next to impossible for me. Enter ROon...  There seems to be a consensus that a purpose-built dedicated Roon Core and separate streamer/ renderer over a wired network is the way to go. “Save your files on an NAS” I read over and over.  NAS are not cheap and I cringed at the idea of managing a network server.   Then I had an epiphany-
The mini could be the perfect NEtwork attached Server as much as it is NOT the perfect music sever.  It is quiet, stable, runs cool and I know how to manage it much better than a Synology or something like that. The hardware is generally long lasting and I know of data storage companies that use racks of minis as servers.  You can attach additional storage drives as backups...
Anyway my plan is a Roon core (such as SGC sonictransporter), UltraRendu endpoint and an iPhone/iPad as controller.  The mini’s only purpose will be to present my files to the network through Roon and add rips using its optical drive.  It can be headless in a closet or next to a TV to be able to plug in HDMI cable and a mouse/ keyboard for occasional interaction with it.  1TB internal SsD for my core collection of treasured tracks. and 2tb external enterprise grade HD attached and cloning the ssd, and attached drives. Additional external drive to add more extensive music library.

Thoughts?

[JLM]

Gook luck.

I'm a computer dummy.  Used a MacBook Air, CD ripped to iTunes, Tidal, and 10ft USB cable for years.  Also tried Amarra but it was glitchy so dumped it.  Then got the itch to upgrade.  Tried a Small Green Computer with Roon but sounded no better so sent it back.  Then tried a tricked out mini with Audiorvana which again sounded no better so sold it on.  Now run a NAD M10 "streaming amplifier" that, with BluSound operating system, is an all-in-one solution that uses a computer only as a wireless control option.  Loving the simplicity and not being dependent on the computer knowledge of others.  And it sounds better than my previous computers, DAC's, preamps, and power amps. 

[yertletheturtle]

Gook luck.

I'm a computer dummy.  Used a MacBook Air, CD ripped to iTunes, Tidal, and 10ft USB cable for years.  Also tried Amarra but it was glitchy so dumped it.  Then got the itch to upgrade.  Tried a Small Green Computer with Roon but sounded no better so sent it back.  Then tried a tricked out mini with Audiorvana which again sounded no better so sold it on.  Now run a NAD M10 "streaming amplifier" that, with BluSound operating system, is an all-in-one solution that uses a computer only as a wireless control option.  Loving the simplicity and not being dependent on the computer knowledge of others.  And it sounds better than my previous computers, DAC's, preamps, and power amps.

Thanks for sharing your experience! We may be arriving at similar conclusions while struggling with a similar journey.  my guess is you are getting at least some of the sonic improvements from distancing your computer from the task of serving the music. Roon (or Bluesound) is really good at finding these files on a drive no matter what that drive is attached to and leaving your core/player to do the rest. I am proposing the same, but without the headache of learning about network servers and network storage and instead using The mini as a storage drive on my network. NO Roon or iTunes running Around  on the mini, just a bunch of files that it has no idea what to do with.

(I am intrigued by the M10 and the NAD C658 brother and the Bluesound cousins.  For now I am choosing the Roon route because I am not yet ready to say I am committing to their narrow ecosystem of Bluesound although it may be an analog to the Mac vs PC drama of the 80-90’s)
Cheers

[JohnR]

“Save your files on an NAS” I read over and over.
...
Thoughts?

Hi there, actually FYI Roon staff do recommend that you attach a drive directly to Core, as changes on a NAS don't get picked up by Roon as easily. Roon will publish the drive on the network so it's a bit like as a NAS anyway, you can just drop files onto it. TBH I think you're making life harder by trying to make the Mini a key part of the system. It might still be a good way to do backups over the network. (as well as music files, as Time Machine for your other Macs).

My 2c

[JohnR]

FYI Jesus has posted some how-tos that might be useful: https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=67.0

[yertletheturtle]

Hi there, actually FYI Roon staff do recommend that you attach a drive directly to Core, as changes on a NAS don't get picked up by Roon as easily.

My 2c

Thanks for your insight. I suspect that while attaching the drive to the core may be beneficial from an organizing standpoint, distancing the mini’s noise by an Ethernet network will be beneficial . I will try both an attached drive approach and a NAS and report back.  Cheers