What's the value add of using Roon Nucleus over some popular network streamers such as Aurender, Naim, etc.? Any sonic benefits or deficiencies over there latter streamers?
Is it only about having Roon as the interface, or are there other benefits?
Does it make sense for those with a NAS?
Thank you
Your question is a two part question.
First is Roon compared to some other network streamer, such as Aurender, Naim, etc. Personally, Roon has become so good in all aspects that I would never go back to any other platform for playing digital. It is not a closed architecture like Naim, etc and is constantly improving in database, SQ, etc.
The second question which is "nucleus" is quite different. How you get the streamed music to your DAC is where this makes a difference. For example, until MSB releases their Roon Renderer I am using Sonore UltraRendu/Uptone LPS-1 as a USB interface to my DAC. Is that better than Aurender or Naim? Most who are using Roon with SGM think SGM blows away the competition but that is quite different than Nucleus, which is a standalone Roon Core running on Linux.
Roon, with the exception of SGM, is best placed on your network, using a strong enough computer or Nucleus, using the Roon database to stream your stored music (usually on a NAS) to your Roon Endpoint. While you can do things to improve your "dirty" network, etc, the quality of your "endpoint" is where the SQ of Roon compared to Aurender, Naim etc. come in.