SGC vs Roon Nucleus

@rsf507 An I5 on Roon is only needed if you are using the DSP or room eq functions of Roon. The basic I3 is plenty fine for running Roon and doing upsampling and adding a few filters (e.g. Audeze filter). But if you run Roon on multiple end points at the same time, using room correction or other EQ features (I don't use these), then the I5's processing power is helpful.
I run the basic Roon Nucleus and I like it because it is simple, quiet, updates by itself, and is really set and forget. You can add an SSD to the Nucleus for storage too.

I have the previous version SGC ST and I am completely satisfied with it.  So easy to set up and its been really reliable. If its in budget, running The Roons core on a dedicated device is the way to go.

I also have the SGC I5 so easy to set up and run. Huge positive difference in SQ going to the I5 from an iMac with external drive. Andrew is excellent to work with. I thought I was having an issue and turned out to be pilot error, Andrew was very understanding and helped me with my Roon setup.

CLARIFICATION:

I have run a SGC Sonictransporter (with MicroRendu) for months and it's worked flawlessly. Very happy with it, but recently it's been dropping off the network. I am working with SGC owner Andrew Gillis to sort this out, and will send it in to him. He's been very responsive to my email and has used TeamViewer to log into my computer and try and see what's going on.

>> Hence I REMOVED MY PREVIOUS COMMENT stating some frustration with SGC. The comment *wasn't unfair or inaccurate* but also wasn't meant to hurt SGC's business and reputation unfairly. I'm in sales and know how a bad review can hurt. I originally chose SGC not only because it was quite a bit less $$ than the Roon Nucleus (with an i5 chip instead of an i3), but also because I like to support independent entrepreneurs and was confident that if I had a problem I would be dealing with a person, and not just submitting help tickets.

Andrew of SGC properly points out that with a NUC I would be my own tech support, and with Roon I would be submitting help tickets and using the knowledgebase. There is a learning curve to this networked audio streaming and it's not for everyone or the faint of heart. I appreciate being able to deal with a real human, and Andrew is responsive.

PD

sbank, re:

Having familiarity with the sonicorbiter browser interface

Regarding this, it’s been an issue for me accessing the apps/manage page by clicking the "MANAGE" button when I go to sonicorbiter.com.

On the main page, the sonictransporter and/or the microrendu SOMETIMES show up (one or both) with the IP addresses etc, and sometimes they don’t show up at all. Totally inconsistent, and sometimes a refresh doesn’t fix it.

Then, when they do show up, often when I click the "manage" button for the sonictransporter, >50% of the time I can’t get to the app page (to burn CD’s, check status, do resets etc). Nothing happens, or it tells me that page can’t load. It would seem to be an issue with SGC’s website, and I have asked Andrew and gotten no answer.

Have any SGC folks here had this issue?