Nucleus Connection Guide

SARA SCHWEIGER | MOON AUDIO STAFF/

Ditch Stock USB Cables

Non-audio cables are commodities. When CHEAP is the goal, QUALITY suffers as anyone who've bought just about any cables for their computers knows. Most cheap cables need to be purchased many times from a variety of sources before you find a "good" one. And "good" in this context is the cable doesn't break within the first weeks. It doesn't take a Ph.D. to do the math and realize buying cables over and over isn't inexpensive.

Audio cables impact sound quality, so CHEAP is less important than QUALITY. Can you use the same cheap USB cables you use with your computer? Yes, but audiophiles and music lovers can do the math. They know cheap means loss of sonic detail, less musical magic. Is it a pain to organize audio cables so they don't become confused with every other cable threatening to overwhelm your life and tech?

Pain is a relative thing. Some won't care about sound quality. People who don't care about their music aren't likely to be here reading this. Neither the Roon Nucleus or Nucleus plus comes with any cables other than the power chord, so adding any DAC needs a USB cable.

Roon Nucleus Connections

Roon released a revision of the Nucleus and Nucleus+ in late 2019. Most of the features remain the same, but an a second HDMI output was added and the overall dimensions changed.

roon nucleus back panel
  1. On/Off Button
  2. Power Cable Input
  3. HDMI Output (Connect to Home Theater receivers)
  4. Network Connection (Ethernet to your router)
  5. USB A (DAC or external hard drives connect here)
  6. HDMI Output (Connect to Home Theater receivers)
  7. Firmware (not currently being used)

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Silver Dragon USB Cable

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The Silver Dragon was created with ultrapure silver conductors for the best in signal transfer for your digital music. The cable uses 99.99998% UP-OCC Stranded Silver 24AWG Teflon insulated stranded conductors with a double layer shield to ward off outside interference. The Silver Dragon USB is the most resolute USB cable on the market today for an amazing price point. So stop paying for over inflated cables and give it a try. Be prepared to be amazed at the difference it will make when transferring your computer audio catalog to your USB applications.

Silver Dragon USB Review

"I use the Silver Dragon to connect my MacBook Pro to a McIntosh D100 digital preamp. Over the years I have bought far more expensive cables than the Silver Dragon and been far less happy with the quality than I am with the [Silver Dragons].

I listen to music mostly on electrostatic headphones and there is a small but noticeable difference with the Silver Dragon connector - the high frequencies seem brighter. A bonus feature is that I was able to customize the length of the Silver Dragon cable.

To summarize, the Silver Dragon represents excellent value and gives your digital system noticeable improvement in sound reproduction."

Roger, Silver Dragon Customer

Black Dragon USB Cable

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The Black Dragon USB uses 99.999% pure copper 24AWG Teflon insulated stranded copper conductors with a double layer shield to ward off outside interference.

Standard USB cables are not up to the task of large bit rate information. Drew has optimized this cable for audio transmission of large high res files. USB cables can make big a difference, and the Black Dragon is one heck of a bang for the buck cable.

Black Dragon USB Review

"I was using a Black Dragon USB cable before, but I had to use a mini-usb to micro-usb adapter. I decided to get another one with the correct plug and bypass the adapter. It sounds much better now and really tames the bite of the high frequencies on my headphones. Best money that I have spent for cables in any form. My highest recommendation."

Joseph, Black Dragon Customer