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My experience with Roon Hardware

I have been a happy customer of Roon software for a few years. Wanting better DSD, DXD performance I decided to to change out my Mac mini to more modern Roon Core server hardware. I know that means just a dedicated computer, but I think a purpose built product will be more robust with better sound quality. After a too brief search I choose a Roon Nucleus Plus. Why not rely on the company whose software I use? What could go wrong? Well, I learned quickly. 3 months in, it has never functioned appropriately. Drop outs, hard reboots, reformats, software reloads. The list is endless. The final straw is that I can no longer copy files to the Nucleus memory. It loops constantly and I must force quit the program. Reformatting does not help. Now a plea to Roon will surely help. Nope going on a week, I have automated acknowledgements and no response. Crickets. There approach may work for software bugs, but is laughably inadequate for hardware failures. I believe there are many happy customers, but I have a $3k candidate for recycling or landfill. Caveat Emptor. 

lafayette2010
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,589 posts
 

I have a Nucleus that I've fortunately never had problems with.  Your experience is indeed frustrating, but there have been other posts here like yours but dealing with other brands and types of gear or just communication.  In those other cases the problems have been resolved to the customers satisfaction although more slowly than we would like.

It seems many companies are having problems keeping up their normal pace due to problems I'm sure we've all heard about.  Roon should provide you with a working Nucleus+.  I'd give them a little extra time to do that and notify your credit card company before your recourse time runs out if they don't.

sonic79
80 posts
 

I do not view the Nucleus as good value. It is essentially a NUC in a fancy enclosure booting from Roon ROCK. The same result can be accomplished for far less cost with a DIY approach--although also requiring a bit more technical knowledge.

lafayette2010 OP
3 posts
 

Thanks guys. Thought comments. Maybe they are short staffed and may respond professionally. Time will tell. 

crn3371
224 posts
 

I think your best option for Roon support is to post in their forum.

bjesien
1,287 posts
 

I've owned my Nucleus for around 6 years and there was one stretch of a few months when it would seriously lag for 5 minutes before changing songs, sometimes not play, etc. Communication with Roon is not easy other than the forum. Their forums remind me of the chat forums from the 1990's.

See if there is a new software update. I'm not exactly sure how it got solved but it's been flawless again for years. Likely a software operating glitch. It can be  frustrating to drop 2 grand and not be able to get a person on the phone. Prior to buying I suggest looking at their support methods to see if they work for you. I'm sure they work for most. 

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