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Found A Roon Core Streamer Only Solution with Top Notch Sound Quality

I bought a "poor man's" clone of a Nuclues Plus Roon Server from fellow member located in Poland.  See https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisbcb0a-roon-labs-poor-man-s-nucleus-music-servers-docks

The seller is super knowledgeable. The whole transaction was flawless. 

The sound is exactly what I was looking for. I recently have a Lumin T3 in house ($5k product) and liked the higher quality streaming. The DAC in the Lumin is really great too, but I prefer my external LTA Aero (NOS, ladder).  What's more, $5k feels steep for the Lumin given its wonky software and weirdly cheap dot matrix screen. 

So I've been on the lookout and researching standalone streamers. 

Adam's Nucleus Plus clone is actually higher spec'd than Roon's model. 

The unit looks even better in person. It's discrete. Solidly built. DEAD quiet (no fan). 

I have no affiliation with Adam other than being a first time, happy purchaser of the "poor pan's Nucleus Plus."  

If you are in the market for dedicated streamer that is also a dedicate Roon Core, check this product out.  Highly recommended. 

PS I'm going to put a linear power supply on it next to see what will happen. 

jbhiller

Showing 3 responses by jbhiller

jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,446 posts
 

I was looking at streamer only solutions and some of the pricing was eye popping, yet there are some highly reviewed and/respect items out there too in the $800-$1500 range. 

What pushed me to get this Nucleus Plus clone was the fact that I could take the Roon Core server off my iMac and back to a dedicated device. I had a NUC a few years back that I built. Its performance was stellar but I ultimately wiped the drive and sold it because it just didn't play consistently well on my network.  Xfinity's network app has some deeper features and I'd check them to find out the NUC would fall off the network all the time. I tried to set it up with a fixed network address too--to no avail. 

At any rate, I think the Nucleus + clone sounds even better than the Lumin when using an external dac.

Highly recommended. Plus, the clone has stayed solidly on my network since install.  Next up is a linear power supply upgrade. 

jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,446 posts
 

@sns, I respect your opinions because you have a good background knowledge in the implementation of this stuff. We consulted on modifying my Chinook. You were a gentleman and very right in your views—based on what my ears heard.  

jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,446 posts
 

@kennyc  You’re welcome. I felt compelled to share this because the cost of really good quality streaming can be popping. But I can’t hear the difference. I just think $5000 a streamer is a little insane.
 

the unit is still running and is totally stable on my network

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