Guide to Using a Mac Mini for Audio

[opusover21]

Geoff I would possibly use another playback software against iTunes as iTunes on windows has some issues but it's too late for my to remember why but it's free so give it a go rather than anyone telling you otherwise..plus the AE is on 14 day return as of all mac stuff. As regards the naim setup it not the mac but the interface is crucial IMHO FireWire is quite a step up from optical and obviously the quality of the DAC

[kernow]

I have a fileserver which also has other media on it such as tv shows etc, but also about 50% of my cd's in lossless format, the airport express is one of the best things I've bought - I prefer it over a wired CAT5 connection but it works pretty well on wireless too.

With lossless its about 500MB per album on average but when I pump it into my CDP-2 optical input from the airtunes, I can't tell a difference in quality but its just a bit quieter, I control itunes on my hp laptop on windows and haven't had any real issues, the location of the music being a file share on the fileserver.

I was tempted to get an ipod touch just for using it as a remote, but I think I'd need itunes loaded anyway and I'm always on my laptop, so I didn't bother in the end.

It makes for a great digital music solution though and is very simple so that anyone could do it. I'd probably recommend some kind of NAS box for a couple hundred quid with a few 1TB drives in RAID configuration if you plan on having a lot of music on there. Ripping CD's one by one is the most painful process really and you don't want to repeat it due to data loss. My fileserver mirrors one drive to the other every night so everythings backed up, but my music collection is only about 30GB on there anyway as I haven't ripped absolutely everything yet.

[manicatel]

tuga wrote:

manicatel wrote:

I've heard a mac/lavry set up in an otherwise all Naim system & was a bit underwhelmed at the sound

Hi Matt,

Could you elaborate a bit on the "underwhelmed"?

Cheers,
R

Hi
Yeah, to me, it just sounded a bit flat & one dimensional, a bit thin, not much body.
The system was a well set up mid-range Naim/LP12, with an old meridian cdp.
Maybe I was expecting too much? Other Naimites had whispered that they nearly regretted spending so much on their high-end Naim cdp's when a mac/lavry came so damn close to them.
As I said, I'm still thinking of selling the cdx2/xps2 to fund a mac/dac, but I'll be wanting a good long home demo to see how it sounds in my own system compared to my Naim cdp first.
I was expecting to be bowled over & was left very undecided.
Maybe that helps?
Maybe someone else has gone from a good cdp to a mac/lavry & can give another insight?
Matt.

[hifinutt]

thick question but isn`t a laptop as quiet and has a built in screen mouse etc, whats the advantage of a mac mini over a laptop.

[Ridgeline LT]

Good question, I went to visit my local hifi expert/shop guru to ask the very same thing, he basically said that mac have designed the audio end of ther machines from the ground up.
The optical output is directly wired into the harddrive and does not get routed through the soundcard in the same way that other PC's work, therefore the data stream is completely pure with absolutley no influence from third party software, also the apple lossless codec was specifically written with high end audio in mind and specifically for Meridian, so it is the best of the codecs as far as Hifidelity repro is concerned.

He said that he has heard many PC based servers in very high end setups and the only one they recommend in the shop is mac.

Nice guy with a tech background and a lot of experience running a very high end shop, he certainly sounded convincing, after a fair bit of research i'm headed down the Mac road, just got a 2nd hand one on ebay and pumping about 1000 cd's into it like theres no tomorrow.....

[opusover21]

hifinutt wrote:

thick question but isn`t a laptop as quiet and has a built in screen mouse etc, whats the advantage of a mac mini over a laptop.

If you dont want a "PC" in your listening room with cables, fans and all that...a silent nice little box..with a brilliant interface..see pic...

[browellm]

opusover21 wrote:

hifinutt wrote:

thick question but isn`t a laptop as quiet and has a built in screen mouse etc, whats the advantage of a mac mini over a laptop.

If you dont want a "PC" in your listening room with cables, fans and all that...a silent nice little box..with a brilliant interface..see pic...

No different to a laptop, Phil.

[opusover21]

browellm wrote:

opusover21 wrote:

hifinutt wrote:

thick question but isn`t a laptop as quiet and has a built in screen mouse etc, whats the advantage of a mac mini over a laptop.

If you dont want a "PC" in your listening room with cables, fans and all that...a silent nice little box..with a brilliant interface..see pic...

No different to a laptop, Phil.

Lol...must be something in my eye Mark..

[meninblack]

LOL, some people like to browse their music collection by sorting through shelves, racks or piles of records and CDs.

Others like to do it by prodding at a spazzy little plastic phone.

If you are spazzy-little-phone-kiddy, the mac mini is your friend.

[kernow]

The benefit being, you don't have to change physical media so often, I quite often just stack up a playlist of lossless files instead of carefully selecting a CD to put in , and then listening to a couple tracks, and then selecting another CD.

Its convenient and if it sounds the same whats the problem ;)

The difference between vinyl, cd and digital files is they are a different type of media, I mean a CD is just data as is a lossless encoded file. Theres pretty much no difference if you are putting it into a decent DAC.

[opusover21]

meninblack wrote:

LOL, some people like to browse their music collection by sorting through shelves, racks or piles of records and CDs.

Others like to do it by prodding at a spazzy little plastic phone.

If you are spazzy-little-phone-kiddy, the mac mini is your friend.

lol grow up MIBs and I'll forgive your ignorance... it's not a bloody phone not alone for spazzy's...i think I've heard the expression but I think it was before my time as a 'kiddy'' to be honest

This thread is trying to provide anyone of interest some basic guidance so as much as the banta appeals to discuss how a plastic box witjh an Apple on the top sounds identical to that expensive transport...another time and place

[ropeboy88]

I've just changed to a mac mini from a rather good CD player and to be fair it has all worked rather well. The sound quality is just as good, the convenience is shockingly better than messing around with little plastic disks and at this point I see CD as antiquated and irrelevant. As for being 'spazzy', that comment can only come from someone who has not experienced the itouch as a remote.

[ropeboy88]

On the other hand with respect to Stuart lets not turn this into the usual wam bitching match, as he has stated, another time and place.

[kernow]

I like the convenience of having either or, quite often I'll just chuck a CD in I'll really like and listen to it all the way through, or I'll switch to the optical input and chuck airtunes on and stack up a playlist (usually when I've had a few beers). Both sound great. There shouldn't be any reason to hate on new technology and the convenience it brings - especially when it really doesn't sound any different using lossless. Its just people stuck in their ways or being snobby sometimes I feel.

[gsrai]

Nice thread stuart

Any folks wanting to argue about MAc vs CD etc. please start another thread as I don't want to have to delete lots of pointless arguing on this thread.

Can I ask a serious question - how does this work as a server as I need a replacement for my NAS drive that feeds 3 squeezeboxes - can the Mac Mini do this (I don't even know if a MAC and a PC canreside on the same network so go easy folks).

[browellm]

gsrai wrote:

Nice thread stuart

Any folks wanting to argue about MAc vs CD etc. please start another thread as I don't want to have to delete lots of pointless arguing on this thread.

Can I ask a serious question - how does this work as a server as I need a replacement for my NAS drive that feeds 3 squeezeboxes - can the Mac Mini do this (I don't even know if a MAC and a PC canreside on the same network so go easy folks).

Yes quite straightforward Gobind. Just install SBS on your Mac Mini. If you are retaining your NAS just to hold the files, then you just point the music path in SBS settings to the network attached storage boxes. Just pm me if you need any specific instructions.

[Picard]

opusover21 wrote:

hifinutt wrote:

thick question but isn`t a laptop as quiet and has a built in screen mouse etc, whats the advantage of a mac mini over a laptop.

If you dont want a "PC" in your listening room with cables, fans and all that...a silent nice little box..with a brilliant interface..see pic...

how many songs are stored on the mini-mac? assume all ripped in lossless?

[opusover21]

Picard wrote:

opusover21 wrote:

hifinutt wrote:

thick question but isn`t a laptop as quiet and has a built in screen mouse etc, whats the advantage of a mac mini over a laptop.

If you dont want a "PC" in your listening room with cables, fans and all that...a silent nice little box..with a brilliant interface..see pic...

how many songs are stored on the mini-mac? assume all ripped in lossless?

Apple lossless or AIFF is fine...I dont hold anything on the mac itself all external....the base macs start at 80gb HD space but for most people an external device/back-up is a must...

[hifinutt]

thanks for all the replies, one thing i do enjoy about cd`s is reading the cover while i am listening and the various words , if any , which maybe is not possible on this system ???

[opusover21]

hifinutt wrote:

thanks for all the replies, one thing i do enjoy about cd`s is reading the cover while i am listening and the various words , if any , which maybe is not possible on this system ???

Err you can have a good look at the picture..read it while you rip in my advise before they go in the loft...lol