[jrebman]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the info!  My mini came today, so tomorrow I should be delving into it and trying a Mac for the first time since 1985 (which was the original Mac with 512k and a floppy drive ).

Anybody know how to get this thing apart so I can get the SSD installed>

Something tells me this is going to be fun!

-- Jim

[Gopher]

perhaps I missed it, as I did not explore the entire thread, but how does this dac fair against the minimax? 

Looks like both have earned a lot of praise and attention here on AC.

[newzooreview]

newzooreview,

Can you describe which of the 4 ports on the 2010 mini is the isolated one that is shared with the IR receiver?

I'm anticipating the arrival of my 2010 mini anyday now and it would be helpful to know which port to start with as I'm a complete newcomer to the Mac world.

Thanks,

Jim

I don't have the new 2010 Mini (I have a 2010 mini purchased before the new version). But the way I figured it out was by using the System Profiler. If you choose "About This Mac" from the Apple menu in the top left corner, you'll get a small info screen. Click on "More Info" and it will open System Profiler. Click on "USB" at the bottom of the Hardware list on the left side, and you'll see the various services running on each USB port.

You have to open and close System Profiler each time you move the Tranquility connection to see an update of what it's being shared with. I chose the port that shared the IR and turned off the IR as I wrote earlier, and that worked best for me. Using the System Profiler you can play around with other options as well.

Hope that helps. 

[newzooreview]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the info!  My mini came today, so tomorrow I should be delving into it and trying a Mac for the first time since 1985 (which was the original Mac with 512k and a floppy drive ).

Anybody know how to get this thing apart so I can get the SSD installed>

Something tells me this is going to be fun!

-- Jim

2010 Mac Mini Hard Drive replacement (haven't done this, but this goes through step by step with photos. Seems like the drive is a snug fit but slow and careful prevails).

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-Mac-mini-Model-A1347-Hard-Drive-Replacement/3113/1

[newzooreview]

thanks for the input newzooreview. I believe you need Leopard or Snow Leopard to perform screen sharing ? So bluetooth or remote gaming keyboards are bad news ? And, using the Mini wirelessly as opposed to hard wire thru ethernet cabling, is not the best ?

I use Snow Leopard--I'm not sure when Screen Sharing was introduced, so maybe you're right.

I disabled Bluetooth and WiFi since I didn't need them and microwave transceivers (along with other electromagnetic emitters) near the USB are bad news. That's one of the reasons the Mini is good--small, quiet, and easy to use without a screen connected (another EM emitter) or keyboard (something else on the USB buss or something requiring bluetooth).

If running with WiFi or bluetooth is required in your setup (you don't have a laptop to control things with, or you can't run an Ethernet cable to the Mini) then the sound won't be bad. It's just a bit better if you can turn those things off.

[saisunil]

perhaps I missed it, as I did not explore the entire thread, but how does this dac fair against the minimax? 

Looks like both have earned a lot of praise and attention here on AC.

Apparently, the tranquility dac with new mac mini (with recommended config changes) is comparable to any transport / dac combo - price no object     jury is still out there ...

[bhobba]

Apparently, the tranquility dac with new mac mini (with recommended config changes) is comparable to any transport / dac combo - price no object     jury is still out there ...

I have had the chance recently to do just that - compare it to some pretty expensive statement stuff that for example clobbered some top of the line uber expensive DCS stuff.  The verdict was, and make no mistake about it, it was comparable.  Just today we conducted a comparison with the Tranquility, the WFS DAC2 and a prototype of the DAC that is being developed specifically to beat that statement DAC.  The WFS was out of its league - no contest.  But the Tranquility and the prototype were comparable.  The difference was the Tranquility had a dryer more neutral sound while the prototype was fuller. In quality terms it was hard to separate although we did tend to prefer the prototype.  But they were comparable 100% for sure.  And that prototype is quite a bit more expensive than the Tranquility.

Thanks
Bill

[Bigfish]

I recently had a conversation with one of my friends who is pulling the trigger to purchase a Tranquility DAC and new Mac Mini.  As I did so months ago prior to purchasing a Tranquility and Mac Mini he has put quite a bit of research into his decision.  My friend made a observation to me that I believe is true:  "the only people that make negative comments about The Tranquility DAC are ones that have not tried it."  Yes, it is only USB and no it is not truly a hi-rez DAC, it just a fantastic, musical, piece of gear.  Whenever Eric announces he has a new and improved version of The Tranquility he can sign me up.

Ken

[2bigears]

   Bigfish,get ready to 'sign-up'    it's more than just in the wind now 

[TomS]

  Bigfish,get ready to 'sign-up'    it's more than just in the wind now 

Perhaps an RMAF debut?  Eric?

[saisunil]

As I understand - Eric is bringing the Sig Tranquility at RMAF ...
According to Eric, the New Mac Mini as a transport coupled with their DAC has bridged the sonic gap between digial and analog ... in some way this set up is a tweaker's delight as there are so many ways to tweak the mini and all the cables and isolation devices ... for continual performance upgrades ...
 

Perhaps an RMAF debut?  Eric?

[dBe]

Perhaps an RMAF debut?  Eric?

Just wait...

 

Dave

[low.pfile]

....we conducted a comparison with the Tranquility, the WFS DAC2 and a prototype of the DAC that is being developed specifically to beat that statement DAC.

Thanks
Bill

Bill, what is the "statement DAC" that you refer to above?

thanks, ed

[bhobba]

Bill, what is the "statement DAC" that you refer to above?

It is a heavily tweaked commercial PCM1704 DAC containing uber expensive stuff like Duelund capacitors.  Even Eric will tell you he would love to use those capacitors but they are just so expensive it can't really be put in the Tranquility and sell at a sane price.  Here is what the owner of the DAC says about it:
'But let me say the things a beast ! I’ve spent time with a full DCS stack and I can tell you the Connor24 smacks it down simple as that. The 24 is a DCS stack with a velvet glove.'

But it is now getting a bit old in the tooth and the owner has commissioned a new DAC called the PDX specifically designed to best it.  The prototype right now is a bit below the statement DAC.  The Tranquility has been compared to both these DAC's and it is comparable to both.  The tweaked pcm1704 is a bit better than the Tranquility - but not by a lot - maybe 5-10% or so and that is being fed by a statement transport.  Right now the Tranquility is about the same as the PDX with the Tranquility being quite dry and neutral - not unmusical mind you - but perhaps more faithful to the source.  The PDX is more organic and fuller sounding and perhaps not quite as true to the source and neutral.  But this was an apples to oranges comparison since the PDX does not have a USB input right now.  The full production version will have a USB input and that is expected to be available next week and a new comparison will be done.  That said the PDX will cost about 1.5 times the price of the Tranquility and there will be options like Duelund capacitors that will make it 3-4 times the price.  For the money the Tranquility simply can't be beat.  I suspect the fully tricked out PDX will best it, but not by much and not for anywhere near the price.  And the Tranquility has a different signature than the PDX so personal preference comes into it - but regardless the Tranquility will be comparable 100% for sure. In fact I wasn't there at the time but the owner of the reference system mentioned he had been experimenting with different types of music and preferred the Tranquility on some types of music.  It is probably much fairer to say it is a personal preference thing depending on what you listen to which you prefer.  I intend to get a PDX and keep both for that exact reason. 

Thanks
Bill

[Cpt_Spiff]

Hi all!

Since it’s been half a year since this forum convinced me to give the tranquility a try, high time to give something back, that is: my take on the tranquility DAC.

In short:
At first I wasn’t blown away by the tranquility. It was really good, but not better than my Shanling CD-T80 (with Western electric 396A NOS tubes). In my opinion the Shanling is really good, but I expected the Tranquility to be better. Fast forward two months later and I am completely blown away by the tranquility, or to put it more accurately by the music it produces, or to put it even more accurate by the way in which it transforms zero's and one's in something else all together. The Shanling (and my CD’s) are gathering dust. What changed in those two months? See below.

In - not really all that - short:
Because of the praise that the tranquility received on this forum, I felt the tranquility could sound better, and because Eric offered great service and tips I started changing some things:

MAC tweaks
These seemed to have some effect

Speaker placement and room
In retrospect, the sound of the tranquility seemed to suffer more from the bad acoustics in my room than the shanling. Changing speaker placement helped, moving to a different apartment (not because of the acoustics, but it was an added benefit ) helped a lot. Now I was at a point were the tranquility sounded slightly better than the Shanling.

Mac Mini
Adding a Mac Mini to the set up improved the sound considerably. At this point I was really happy with the sound. But the tranquility gave me the feeling that there was still music I wasn’t hearing:

Speakers
I started this nice hobby with Tannoy Saturn LCR speakers. And at the time these were still my main speakers. In my opinion these are really good budget speakers. But I decided that my speakers shouldn’t be on a budget, so I purchased used Sonus Faber Cremona Auditors. Wow. Now I finally heard what the tranquility was all about (and what these speakers are about).

So, there you have it: great sound, really enjoying the music. The Shanling in my opinion is a great CDP, but the tranquility is much better. I’ll give a few impressions of the sound, but I find it hard to describe sound so I’ll keep it short. The thing that strikes me most in this setup is the soundstage: the music fills the room effortlessly. All instruments all have their own space in my room. Voices sound great and are not overpowered by instruments. This aspect benefited a lot from the above mentioned changes. All in all the music has a really natural sound to it that is completely addictive. The way music is supposed to sound.

Time to sit back and listen to the music. All done upgrading… or am I? Although my setup sounds like magic to me, I'm thinking about upgrading my Vincent SV236 Hybrid integrated Amplifier for an All Tube Cayin A-100T. I am curious what this amplifier will sound like in my setup, and curiosity is what made me purchase the tranquility, so I'll probably give it a try. After that I’m on a budget again and I will enjoy the setup for years to come, like I am enjoying it now, only more so  .

Thanks to all on the forum who convinced me through the posting of their experiences that the tranquility is a great DAC and thanks to Eric Hider for the great service.

Cheers,

Folker
The Netherlands

PS I started the DAC journey with the HRT Musicstreamer and Musicstreamer+. For the money these were very good and in my headphone (HD650) setup they sounded quite good. In my main setup they didn't come close to the Shanling CDP, and they were thrashed by the tranquility.

[bhobba]

Hi Guys

OK previously I had been listening to my Tranquility on a friends reference system.  I have now got it connected to my system.  Not with the NAKSA which is my preferred amp, but a little Redgum I have which at $550.00 is staggeringly good value for money.  I am using it because it has a remote volume and I don't have a pre amp.  As good as that little Redgum is the NAKSA is at a different level.  Anyway the Redgum IMHO is more than transparent enough to hear the differences in DAC's.

OK to the sound.  The first thing I notice is a complete absence of digititus of any form.  You relax more into the music.  The WFS DAC I used previously had a slight sibilance issue IMHO.  Interestingly when I listen to the Tranquility it is not so much getting rid of the sibilance as changing how it sounds.  If the sibilance is there you still hear it but is does not seem to grate or glare - instead of clinching and saying thats not nice you go Ahhh.  No coldness or anything like that - simply nice fluidity and liquidity.  It seems to have exactly the same detail as the WFS which I find quite interesting since that is that DAC's strong point.  Is it up to the standard of the best DAC I have ever heard - the Killer DAC? Afraid not.  Comparable - yes but not quite as good.  Is it a significant step up from anything in its price range? Without doubt.  Would it be what Steve Garland, the maker of the killer DAC, calls making music?  That's a hard one - to my ears - yes but I know Steve has heard a lot more stuff than me so maybe not to him.  Anyway at $1295 it is amazing value.  Right now the owner of the reference system I previously used it on, Mike Lenehan of Lenehan Audio (the maker of Lenehan Ml1's) and myself prefer a DAC he is working on, the PDX, which is still in prototype.  But when finalized it will be about 50% more expensive than the Tranquility.  Interestingly Mike has found some recordings that the Tranquility sounds better on. I conjecture this has to do with the quality of the recording.  The Tranquility is dead neutral.  If you have a crappy recording it sounds crappy - if it is good it sounds good.  For some reason the PDX does not seem to be like that - crappy recordings do not sound as crappy.  Anyway this is just conjecture - getting to the bottom of it will involve a lot more investigation.

Also I have just found out the signature version has been finalized and it is on its way over to Mike's to check out on his reference system.  It is supposed to be a significant step up - we will find out. Just switched to some Dianna Krall - man does she sound so good on this DAC.

One thing I just discovered is that playing back from the MAC's internal drive is quite a good deal better than from an external USB drive.  This probably explains why when we first tried it out using my USB drive it was rather ho hum.  But when Mike tried it later with his machine using its hard drive - wow.  Eric reckons using his recommended firewire drive it will be even better again.  After finding this out both Mike and myself are ordering one.

Thanks
Bill 

[Jon L]

One thing I just discovered is that playing back from the MAC's internal drive is quite a good deal better than from an external USB drive.  This probably explains why when we first tried it out using my USB drive it was rather ho hum.  But when Mike tried it later with his machine using its hard drive - wow. 

That seems to be the experience more and more hard-drive audio guys are having.  From various forums and my own experiences, sound quality seems to vary quite a bit, from worst to best, possibly:

USB drive<FW drive=(?)internal SATA drive<e-SATA drive. 

It's not clear how SSD's fit into the whole picture, but it would be too expensive for a large music collection anyway. I can say IME that without a doubt, moving from internal SATA drive to external e-SATA drive with its own power supply TRANSFORMED sound quality for me 

There's an interesting link where somebody modified a Mac Mini with e-SATA and posted comparative results..
http://web.me.com/wheaties/Stuff./Stuff/Entries/2009/2/21_Mac_Mini_Mods_-_eSATA.html

[juanitox]

reading this thread, this dac sonds very interesting.  but i have found no info on the dac used? is there any inside pictures of it ?

i  have found pictures of Weiss dac2, WFS dac, audio-gd dac , ayre dac but none of the tranquility? 

any info on the upcoming tranquility signature differences?

cheers.

[bhobba]

reading this thread, this dac sonds very interesting.  but i have found no info on the dac used? is there any inside pictures of it ? i  have found pictures of Weiss dac2, WFS dac, audio-gd dac , ayre dac but none of the tranquility?  any info on the upcoming tranquility signature differences?

Here is a picture of the internals:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=75402.280

I have a Tranquility signature being sent out today and it should arrive in a week or so.  We will then do a comparison with another DAC an acquaintance is working on.  Watch out for the review.

Thanks
Bill

[newzooreview]

I just got a set of four Herbie's Baby Booties to try under my Tranquility DAC. I wasn't expecting much, but I was surprised at how much the sound suffered. Things became dry, tinny, and thin and timbre suffered as well. I think I read somewhere above (or on another forum) that someone had good luck with them on the Tranquility, but it was a no go for me.

I suspect they cause problems because Eric has carefully placed some dampening inside the case, and he's essentially tuned away the negative affects of any resonances in the case using the stock feet. Changing the feet messes with the tuning he's done. Whether that's the case or not, I've put the stock rubber feet back on. And things sound good again.

For what it's worth, I've not found more elaborate power cords to help the Tranquility either. I tried a couple, but I went back to a $12 Volex because the others didn't improve things (they actually degraded the sound in one way or another). On my amps and preamp the nicer power cables can help, but I think that Eric has engineered the filtering on the Tranquility power supply to need little in the way of help from the power cable (e.g. a lot of cables provide a filtering effect).

So, live and learn.

Hebie's is here, http://herbiesaudiolab.net/bbootie.htm, and I'm going to try their Tenderfeet under my amp and preamp and power conditioner. Their service is quick, and they seem like great folks with very reasonably priced products. The fact that the Tranquility didn't benefit is more a credit to Eric's very careful and highly refined designing, I think, than of the quality and benefit of Herbie's Audio Lab products.