[ebag4]

I am just getting my 2011 i5 Mac Mini (8G Crucial Ram) up and running as my music server.  I have an Oyen Firewire external drive that I will be using for my music files.  Using the firewire enclosure I have set up a new Samsung 840 Evo SSD as my boot drive (Mavericks) to be installed in the mini as soon as I pick up some smaller Torx drivers.

I have test driven some of the major players, JRiver, Amarra, Pure Music and Audirvana+.  Although there are likely some setup details that did not allow the absolute best for each of these, to my ears Audirvana sounds best.  The issue of course is the interface, I understand I could use an iTunes interface but have read that it negatively impacts the sound quality.  I am planning to run headless using an iPad Mini for control.  Right now I am using Splashtop but I am not crazy about having to drag the mouse arrow around to click on items.  What are you using as a remote interface to Audirvana?

Thanks,
Ed

[wilsynet]

iTunes Remote on iPad and iPhone.

[Jonathan]

Honestly, that is the first I have heard that using the iTunes interface in Audirvana negatively impacts the sound.  That being said,  you can deselect that option and then manually add songs to Audirvana from your hard drive; just press the Playlist button, the "plus" sign, and then navigate to where your song files are located.

I am able to perform all of those functions remotely using Pocket Cloud to remotely operate my computer from my iPad. It works well, but it can be a bit tedious, especially compared to using the Remote app with iTunes. Good luck.

[mg8]

I use Audirivana plus on a Mojo Mac Mini, SDD, external 1TB OWC Mercury Elite pro mini FW800 Audioquest Carbon, Audioquest USB Coffee to Oppo 105 (modified by AudioMagic goodies: Super Fuse, Pulse Gen ZX, Blackout box on transformer and blackout paint on the caps).  I run it headless via MacBook Pro.  I have used the iPad but find those things more annoying than practical. 

I have not experimented with the iTunes interface and Audirivana.  I heard that GUI is a sonic compromise and although the album art is nice, it is less of a benefit in the headless config.  I am extremely satisfied with the Apple solution.  I have also used Pure Music and JRiver (windows).  For my purposes, the simplicity and sonic performance of this setup are the best solution.  I do think JRiver is a much more capable and excellent software solution for multi-user setup.  IMHO