16-Feb-2019, 19:20
Sorry to chime in this late, but I was abroad.
I deliberately bought a Mac Mini 2018 for use as a music server. The MacMini is an i7 with 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB internal SSD ans a 2 TB external SSD and is hard wired via Cat 7a Ethernet to my Devialet. At first, I quite liked the sound from the Mac Mini, but after a while I noticed that it was a bit shrill and started to get quite fatiguing with long listening sessions.
So I asked my local dealer for a Nucleus loan. When connected to my system, the shrillness was immediately gone and the sound was pleasing right from the start! So quite some improvement compared to the Mac Mini.
The Nucleus is dead quiet, fast, and absolutely reliable. I was also debating whether I should buy a Nucleus +, but with my simple setup (no simultaneous streaming to several zones at a time) and given my smallish library (about 400 albums, about 30% High Res), the Nucleus breaks no sweat.
I am streaming my music to a WiFi repeater via Ethernet, and from there on via WiFi to my Devialet. I find the sound a bit more detailed than going straight Ethernet to the Dev.
So all in all, the Nucleus is definitely a plus for my system!
The next step will be to upgrade my Expert 120 to the 220 Expert Pro to make my system Roon Ready ?
I deliberately bought a Mac Mini 2018 for use as a music server. The MacMini is an i7 with 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB internal SSD ans a 2 TB external SSD and is hard wired via Cat 7a Ethernet to my Devialet. At first, I quite liked the sound from the Mac Mini, but after a while I noticed that it was a bit shrill and started to get quite fatiguing with long listening sessions.
So I asked my local dealer for a Nucleus loan. When connected to my system, the shrillness was immediately gone and the sound was pleasing right from the start! So quite some improvement compared to the Mac Mini.
The Nucleus is dead quiet, fast, and absolutely reliable. I was also debating whether I should buy a Nucleus +, but with my simple setup (no simultaneous streaming to several zones at a time) and given my smallish library (about 400 albums, about 30% High Res), the Nucleus breaks no sweat.
I am streaming my music to a WiFi repeater via Ethernet, and from there on via WiFi to my Devialet. I find the sound a bit more detailed than going straight Ethernet to the Dev.
So all in all, the Nucleus is definitely a plus for my system!
The next step will be to upgrade my Expert 120 to the 220 Expert Pro to make my system Roon Ready ?
SonicTransporter i5 - AirPort Extreme - Devialet Expert 120 - ATC SCM 19 v1
