Hey folks! I’m seeking out ideas to switch out my current streaming set up with a solid alternative. I’ve been running ROON ROCK on a bare bones Intel NUC (Core I7, 16 GB DDR4) for a couple of years. I now want to see what else is out there in the audio streaming world. I want to keep the NUC os-less, i.e. no Windows and I’m a complete luddite when it comes to Linux. I was looking at installing/trying Volumio, JRiver, Daphile, and/or Audirvana (or other recommendation) to the NUC. This will run headless, as ROCK does, and access via an iOS or Android app. I think Volumio can be flashed direct to the SSD in the NUC. JRiver and Daphile could be installed via a pseudo OS called “SnakeOil” which I’m just learning about. Audirvana I think can only be installed on top of Windows or via Mac OS. ROON has good documentation for NUC but other services, not so much. Sure I could stick with ROON but the yearly sub is $$, lifetime even more $$$ and questionable longevity considering the Harman Kardon buyout. ROON Certification for the DMP-A8 is taking a long while. I’m willing to spend less money on another streamer software subscription option If needed. Rest of the system that NUC pulls from and feeds to: Synology NAS for audio libraries Bluesound Nodes SONOS Eversolo DMP-A8 Qobuz Amazon Music HD I bought a new 250GB NVME M.2 to test out other streamer installs. I wanted to preserve the current NVME in the NUC with the ROCK installation in case things don’t pan out and can just slap it back in. Thanks in advance for reading, offering any suggestions and shared experiences!
I don't really see why you necessarily want to use that NUC if you have music stored on the NAS. But if you really want, you can install Daphile and access it from DMP-A8 via Squeeze Connect or you can install some Linux and then Minim Server. You can find enough documentation on the net. I mapped the music folder on the NAS (NFS) and I am very satisfied with the result. I have a Qnap NAS on which I also installed Minim Server and LMS, I tested them, but I prefer the version with the mapped folder.
What I'm really after is Music Player interface for browsing and sending to various devices. ROON does that well. I have decided to load another M.2 SSD with Windows OS onto the NUC and try the likes of Audirvana and JRiver since they cannot be ran direct like ROON ROCK. Currently running Volumio which isn't too bad but does have its quirks and limitations. The Eversolo app is fine specifically for the A8 of course. However, I find it very sensitive (iOS version on iPad) when, for example, browsing library and selecting tracks using the three dots to the right to add to the queue. Often instead of adding the track ends up playing, cutting off the track that was currently playing.
