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Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ now with 1 year license for Roon included

Anyone who purchases a Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS + music server from 1. October 2020 will receive the license for the Roon software from Roon Labs LLC, which is essential for operation for a year. The subscription is therefore included in the purchase price for one year.


Roon Labs LLC. succeeded in creating one of the most important streaming platforms with Roon within a very short time. One reason for the great success of Roon is certainly that it is a cross-manufacturer platform, because Roon Labs LLC. works intensively with various companies to certify their solutions for use with Roon within the framework of a partner programme. Roon Labs LLC. sees itself first and foremost as a pure software forge, leaving the development of streaming solutions to its partners. However, with one single exception when it comes to the actual Roon Core, i.e. the central music server, Roon Labs LLC. itself offers corresponding solutions in the form of the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ systems.

Ultimately, these two solutions are servers based on a so-called Intel NUC, i.e. a PC platform that can be easily purchased to configure itself in conjunction with the Roon ROCK software, which has been specially designed as a music server for this platform. However, the highlight of the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ systems is that they are solutions that are specially designed for use in a hi-fi environment and therefore have significantly more elegant housings than the Intel NUC systems from the IT world, and also do not require active cooling. An almost silent operation is thus ensured. In addition, if you decide on an Intel NUC alone, you have to configure the system yourself, whereas with a Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ you get a fully installed and almost fully configured solution that is ready for immediate use. With the two systems Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+, Roon Labs LLC. wanted to offer hi-fi specialist dealers optimum solutions that they in turn could offer their customers as out-of-the-box systems.

The only downer in the story is that the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ solutions do have their price, which is significantly higher than the price of self-configured solutions based on an Intel NUC. In addition, you have to purchase the licence for the software, at least this was the case until now.

Now it was decided to include the licence for one year in the price of the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ systems.

Roon Labs LLC. offered from the outset two options for the licence, namely as an annual subscription and a so-called Lifetime Licence. However, as Roon Labs LLC. did not find the Lifetime License really worthwhile, they increased these prices significantly last year, as we reported, and are now focusing primarily on the annual payment.

The same applies to the adjustment of the prices of the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ servers with integrated licence for one year.

The important thing is that it is actually only one year that is integrated here and that there is no automatic renewal.

It should also be noted that the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ solutions now on offer are already the second generation, with slightly improved features and therefore performance.

In principle, it can be said that the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ systems are designed as ready-to-go solutions; no computer or network knowledge is required. You actually have to start the Roon App alone, which is available for Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, Google Android and Apple iOS, and carry out the few basic setup steps, such as creating a user account and “telling” the system where to find your audio data, as well as accounts for streaming services, TIDAL and Qobuz are available here so far, enter them if required. The Multiroom Hi-res audio streaming system is already up and running and will take over the complete administration from now on.

In addition, the Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ solutions allow integration into home control solutions, Crestron and Control4 are directly supported here. An option that the self-configured Intel NUC systems described above do not offer.

The new Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ systems offered from 1 October 2020 therefore include a licence for one year, each device comes with a corresponding code that can be activated directly by the dealer. To emphasise it again, there will be no automatic renewal after this period, so this must be done actively.

The new sales price for the Roon NUCLEUS is € 1.579,00 for the Roon NUCLEUS+ you have to budget € 2.679,00.

Getting to the point

The new Roon NUCLEUS and Roon NUCLEUS+ systems offered from 1. October 2020 include a one-year Roon licence, each unit is accompanied by a corresponding code that can be activated directly by the dealer. It is important to emphasise that there will be no automatic renewal after this period, so this must be done actively.

Manufacturer:Roon Labs LLC.
Distribution:Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH
Price:Roon NUCLEUS € 1.579,00
Roon NUCLEUS+ € 2.679,00
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Michael Holzinger

Michael Holzinger, founder and editor-in-chief of HiFi BLOG and sempre-audio.at, has been working for years as a journalist in the fields of IT, photography, telecommunications and consumer electronics.

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