My experience with Roon Hardware

I've been using a Nucleus+ for almost three years and have not experienced any of the problems you describe.

Perhaps you have a network issue.

I do agree with you regarding your frustration with the Roon support system. I think it would be best to purchase Roon products from a knowledgable local dealer who can solve customer problems directly.

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. 

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

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

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.

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.

I have a stupid suggestion that may be worth trying:  Put a fan on it.

A lot of these small computing devices, including routers, don't really get evaluated appropriately for thermal behavior. It is worth doing as an experiment, if your problems go away you at least know what is the root cause.  Still sucks because the device should be rock solid in a home environment, but so many of these little devices I have come across are not