Who uses Mac?

Christof · « **on:** 18 Feb 2007, 11:46 pm »

I know there are a few of us out here. I'm curious to know how you folks implement your Mac's into your audio systems?

iTunes navigated with Front Row via remote control seems like it's too good to be true. Am I missing something here?

konut · « **Reply #1 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 12:20 am »

I bought an iBook in 2002. I used it to play CDs with a USB external soundcard for awhile. Then the CD drive crapped out. I still use the iBook for email and browsing. I have since, reluctantly, bought a Toshiba laptop to run Slimserver for the SqueezeBox. I'm waiting until Apple upgrades the MacMini to the Core2Duo and Leopard get another Mac. It will also be able to run XP. The only thing I used iTunes for was to play CDs. As I want to use FLAC files iTunes has no appeal to me. That wouldn't have been the case if I had felt confident that I could get bit perfect copy files of my CDs with Apple lossless.

JoshK · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 12:23 am »

If I buy another PC it will be a mac. When they went to OSX which is unix based and still retained their killer interface they pretty much sold me.

SET Man · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 01:07 am »

Hey!

12" PowerBook G4 here.

For my works and plays Mac is much better for me

Yes, I do sometime when I'm lazy I will play my musics that I ripped in uncompressed file (AIFF) stored in the Seagate 400g external HDD via Firewire than out to a cheap M-Audio's Transit via USB than from there a 12' glass optical toslink feeding the "Little Buddy DAC"

Sound great!

And of cause I'm sitting on my listening char have my PowerBook on my lap choosing songs and surfing the web and AC all at once.

Ahhh.... the convenience of computer and digital

Well, for the pure analog sound I still have to get up and walk 6 feet to my turntable... but it is well worth it

Take care,
Buddy

PhishPhan · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 01:42 am »

I run one of those cables marketed for iPods straight from my mac mini to my integrated. Sounds pretty good to be honest. It sure is convenient. The only thing I dislike about it is that iTunes seems to cut off the very ending of songs while introducing the new song simultaneously, kinda like on the radio. This is a cool feature when I listen to some mixes I've made, but it can be a bit irritating listening to albums I know by heart when the timing between the songs is shortened.

Woodsea · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 01:47 am »

As you may know I bought my wife a C2D 2gb ram 100HDD7200rpm macbook just 2 weeks ago. It is nice!. BUT, I am holding out for all the goodness coming out for DX10 in the next 2 months. New quad cpu's and smaller and less power hungry gpu's. Vista is going to rock, and Apple knows it. Will have to see how the new OS from Steve looks, and if he makes a screaming macbookpro that will compete against what Sager can place in my lap on a cost per gaming grin!

SET Man · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 01:47 am »

Quote from: PhishPhan on 19 Feb 2007, 01:42 am

The only thing I dislike about it is that iTunes seems to cut off the very ending of songs while introducing the new song simultaneously, kinda like on the radio.

Hey!

I think there is a setting in the iTune where you could set that... I think it call "crossfade"

Go to the Preference and look inside the Playback

Take care,
Buddy

dB Cooper · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 02:39 am »

Love that avatar, SET man.

Love my mac, especially for audio.

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 02:39 am »

Here is my trusty Mac X-Calliber doing battle in the war room.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=31630.80

Always have been a Mac user. I have two brothers who work with PCs all day long. One does PC trouble shooting for the city police. Both own Macs. One says he won't own a PC if you gave him one. He is pretty hard core I would have to say.

Rocket_OSx10_Ronny

PhishPhan · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 02:40 am »

Thanks for the tip, SET man. I've only been a mac user for about 10 months so I'm still learning about all this good stuff.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 02:52 am »

I started off with a Mac but switched to PC. Macs are comparatively more costly and not as upgradeable. Tech support and software is easier to come by for the PC. And as for problems, well the Mac isn't immune. I've had a number of Macs and without exception they'd all freeze and lock up on occasion. To each his own.

John

Christof · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 03:04 am »

I should clarify my question a bit. I'm not asking if we should use Mac's. I'm not asking why we should or should not use a Mac. Personally it's too late I've gone down the Apple road and now own 3 of them and I'm happy. This is not a Mac vs. PC thread.

So I ask How do you PC(Mac) as source folks implement your Mac's into your systems.

I am looking at a few different approaches:

1.Wireless to AE then Optical Toslink to DAC
2.Firewire to a firewire compatible DAC (currently this is my setup)
3.USB to a USB Dac
4.Skip iTunes alltogether and go SlimDevices route
5.Etc.....
6.Etc.....

TONEPUB · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 03:06 am »

I use both and enjoy both for different reasons....

Music, I use iTunes, and Slim Devices...
No fuss no muss.

I use Napster on my PC laptop to listen to new music.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 03:20 am »

I have been a Mac fan since back when I began college 17 years ago. I loved the SE design, its sheer simplicity and efficiency at doing tasks with just 2 MB of memory with 20 MB of HD space. Ironically, when I was first able to afford my first PC, back in 1991, I bought a 386-16 MHz machine with a whopping 4 MB memory and 40 GB HD. I swear, it sucked really really bad.

While some purists have proclaimed that FLAC sounds better, thus mostly using Windows based machines for their servers, I wonder how much better it will be.

Apple audio, for what I can hear it great and super convenient.

Talking about Mac computing....Apple OSX system, regardless of what some claim, that its main ideas were ripped from Linux, is rock steady in contrast to my personal experiences with Windows based machines as recent as 2005. Although Apple monopolizes the concept of making PCs on their own specs as well as writing its own OS, one thing that customers will get from it is seamless upgrade packages and protection. They will not have to worry about incompatibilities among central peripherals that are part of most PCs.

When Apple wants you to have a new firmware pack, an updater icon pops out, it gives a very clear heading of which Apple OSX software it will update and it asks for permission.
Very straight forward and down to Earth approach in keeping the OS up to date.

The new OS from Apple will trounce Vista, as the OS X have trounced the older Windows XP in terms of stability and security.

The sad part of it all, most of the worlds PC users will not have the clue as to the fact that computing could be so much more enjoyable and safe, if they would have had a different OS in their PCs, but some believe that just because the "masses" use an OS, they do so due to voluntary choice.

Check what some people think about most of a country's reliance on Windows based software...

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200702/kt2007021517571868040.htm

Most of these people in Korea are forced into using windows based machines due to the government's and companies' reliance on Microsoft. If only their websites were open platform.

Double Ugly · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 04:20 am »

I tried iTunes, but I eventually skipped it and went the Slim Devices route.

I convert all my CDs to .flac files with MAX, and then save the converted files to 1 of 19 genre folders. My Transporter accesses the files via a wireless router, and the Transporter is connected directly to my amps.

The Transporter's interface is intuitive and easy to use IMO, and since I set up my own folders, I (usually) remember which contains the CD I want to hear, and can find it in a matter of seconds.

Hope this helps.

-Jim

avta · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Feb 2007, 03:21 pm »

I've been using an older Mac Mini ( G4 processor ) for about a year. I have it connected to a Squeezebox 2 wirelessly using a Netgear Rangemax router. I use the most current version of Slimserver. ( 6.5.2 ) My setup is a Nohr tubed pre., Nuforce 9.02 amps. and Magnepan 1.6 speakers. I also use Max for ripping and an external hard drive to store music files which are in FLAC format. I also have an Oppo player. I'll probably get a DAC sometime. I'm satisfied with the system and feel like I've gotten good value for the money spent.

Guy

drphoto · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Feb 2007, 05:30 pm »

Dual 2 ghz G5 here w/ Squeezebox via Airport. I rip files w/ Apple Lossless. Good enough for casual listening. I have interesting piece of software that allows one to speed up or slow down music while maintaining pitch. (for learning music parts) It also has an equalizer function. I'm thinking about reprocessing some disk w/ that and see how it sounds.

BTW: my previous rig w/ a homebuilt based on an old Daystar Genesis chassis. Running OS 8.6, it was absolutely bomb proof. That sucker never crashed. Of course, the OS was stripped down to the bare essentials and it basically only ran Photoshop.

Double Ugly · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Feb 2007, 01:26 am »

Quote from: drphoto on 21 Feb 2007, 05:30 pm

Running OS 8.6, it was absolutely bomb proof. That sucker never crashed. Of course, the OS was stripped down to the bare essentials and it basically only ran Photoshop.

And that's what it's all about, isn't it?

I'm using the latest version of OSX on my Mac Pro (2 x 3GHz dual-core Xeon processors, 4GB RAM), and though I'm still very much a Mac newb, my machine has only been restarted when necessary for software upgrades. Never - not once - has it frozen or otherwise required me to give it the finger (hard reboot) in the 6 months since it arrived. I can't say that about any of the PCs I've owned.

Still, I find the interface and fidelity of the Slim Devices process make it the better route for me. Another nail in the iTunes coffin is that it doesn't like .flac files, and I do.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #18 on:** 22 Feb 2007, 01:31 am »

Quote from: Double Ugly on 22 Feb 2007, 01:26 am

Still, I find the interface and fidelity of the Slim Devices process make it the better route for me. Another nail in the iTunes coffin is that it doesn't like .flac files, and I do.

Wow. That is very surprising for me. I despised Slimserver and its for me, its unreliability, that is why I sold it and I have been toying with doing Apple Lossless through my Mac Mini G4, to a Headroom Micro USB DAC. The sound is amazing.

I wonder how will it be if I use FLAC. I keep hearing that it is better.

Double Ugly · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Feb 2007, 02:02 am »

Quote from: Bemopti123 on 22 Feb 2007, 01:31 am

Quote from: Double Ugly on 22 Feb 2007, 01:26 am
Still, I find the interface and fidelity of the Slim Devices process make it the better route for me. Another nail in the iTunes coffin is that it doesn't like .flac files, and I do.

Wow. That is very surprising for me. I despised Slimserver and its for me, its unreliability, that is why I sold it and I have been toying with doing Apple Lossless through my Mac Mini G4, to a Headroom Micro USB DAC. The sound is amazing.

I wonder how will it be if I use FLAC. I keep hearing that it is better.

For the life of me, I don't understand why one lossless format (FLAC) sounds better than another (Apple Lossless), but it does.

I honestly hoped that wasn't the case, and had every reason to want Apple Lossless to at least equal FLAC, but...

I've had only intermittent problems (10-20 second freeze-ups) since getting my Transporter, and that only after "upgrading" to the latest version of SlimServer (6.5.0 ran flawlessly for 2 months, 24/7). Even so, the ease of finding what I want (usually less than 10 seconds) makes it a virtual tie w/ iTunes, and the quality of sound is justification enough to put up with the occasional glitch. The cool iTunes interface with the flipping albums is nice, but ultimately it has to be about the sound.

What reliability issues did you experience?