[pardales]

The two reasons that I've heard for using a mini rather than a laptop are

1. The LCD monitor in a laptop can be a significant source of RFI/EMI. Getting the screen away from the CPU and sound outputs mitigates this. Or you could just run the Mini with the built-in screen sharing from another Mac.

2. It fits more easily into an equipment rack. You don't really need a monitor. If you use iTunes you can run it from an iPhone or via screen sharing as noted above.

I currently use a MacBook (with the screen turned off and operated via screen sharing across my home network). This worked for me since a) I had a MacBook available after upgrading to a MacBook Pro, and b) I use Play rather than iTunes since it sounds better, and screen sharing let's me control it while Remote on the iPhone does not.

Hope that helps.

Very helpful, thank you. 

I use an iPod touch as remote but would not be comfortable without a screen as it makes getting some internet radio stations much easier. Not to mention, I like to check email occasionally on the same computer. Hadn't heard of "PLAY" before. I understand what you are saying though.

[skproductions]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

• Mac mini processor model:

2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

• Operating system version:

10.6.2

• Hard drive type (internal only or external) size and type (stand alone or RAID):

320GB (internal)

• Internal memory installed:

2GB
[/list]

• Monitor/keyboard:

MacBook Pro via screen share

• Wireless hardware:

IPhone Remote

• Software music player(s):

iTunes

• Other method of controlling the mac mini (VNC, custom remotes, etc):

• Amplifier, and type (eg. Solid state mono block, SET, Tube integrated):

ATC SCM 50 active speakers (Amp is built in - 350w per channel)

• Pre amplifier:

McIntosh C22 Vintage Tube Pre Amp

• External DAC:

Ayre QB-9

• Other component(s) in chain between mini and speakers:
• Speakers in this system:

ATC SCM 50A

• Interconnect types between mac mini and X:

USB

• Location of the mac mini (eg. in the listening area, other room, or closet):

Listening Room
[/list]

Also provide comments on these:

a. If applicable, what is custom in this mac mini system?
b. What feature or function would you add to the mac mini if you could (keeping the system within a similar price range?
c. The part of your mac mini system that gives YOU the most satifaction/enjoyment ?
d. Other comments:
[/quote]

[Jeff Ward]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

• Mac mini processor model: 2.53 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Operating system version: OS X Server 10.6.2
• Hard drive type (internal only or external) size and type (stand alone or RAID): internal 2x 500GB, external Drobo (pseudo RAID array) with 3.7 TB available (music collection currently occupies about 1.4 TB)
• Internal memory installed:4 GB

• Monitor/keyboard: 52" Panasonic plasma, Apple wireless keyboard and wireless mouse
• Wireless hardware: Dual Band Airport Extreme, 1 TB Time Capsule, 2x Airport Express (802.11n), 1 Airport Express (802.11g)
• Software music player(s): iTunes
• Other method of controlling the mac mini (VNC, custom remotes, etc): Logictech Harmony 1 (rarely), iPhone (mostly), iPod Touch (sometimes), plus MacBook Pro occasionally.

• Amplifier, and type (eg. Solid state mono block, SET, Tube integrated):McIntosh 7106 100wx6 solid state
• Pre amplifier: Krell Showcase
• External DAC: not currently, but I have my eye on an Ayre QB-9
• Other component(s) in chain between mini and speakers:
• Speakers in this system: Magnepan MC-1 (front) + MMGW (center and surround)
• Interconnect types between mac mini and Krell: optical toslink
• Location of the mac mini :  currently in the listening area, thinking about relocating it with the drives to the basement underneath.

Also provide comments on these:

a. If applicable, what is custom in this mac mini system? Stock.
b. What feature or function would you add to the mac mini if you could (keeping the system within a similar price range? Better remote functionality without using the iPhone/iPod.
c. The part of your mac mini system that gives YOU the most satifaction/enjoyment ? When the sound comes out of the speakers (in all parts of the house) seamlessly, which would be about 95% of the time.
d. Other comments: Wish I could wire everything with Ethernet to get rid of that 5% of the time that there are dropouts.

[les anderson]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

Mac mini processor model: 2.26 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Operating system version: OS X 10.6 Snow
Hard drive type: Internal is 160gb, external is 1tb. Anything that is saved on the mini/external is backed up accros the network to a wm7 PC that has mirrord 1 tb drives.
Internal memory installed:2 GB

Monitor/keyboard: none
Wireless hardware: Linksys wrt160 802.11n
Software music player(s): iTunes
Other method of controlling the mac mini; VNC for admin and an gen 1 itouch as primary. My wife and I also run "remote" like software on our Palm Pres.

External DAC: KRK Ergo firewire dac w Lyngdorf room correction. Also has an analog volume control that is usually left at 2'ocock when not listening in the loft. I use the digital volume control in itunes for level adjustment during background music listening.
Speakers in this system: Quad 12l Active

Mini is stock. I do run a great little program called memeo autosync that does all the backing up to multiple drives across the network. $30 MSRP. But this actually runs on the windows machine.
Interconnect types: generic Belkin firewire from mini to Ergo. Balanced mogami neglex from Ergo to speakers
Location of the mac mini :  dedicated listening loft that plays through the house as well

I love the fact that this system is high performance and does room correction but is elegant and simple enough for my wife to use. 4 boxes!

I sold my analog rig to get into this gear and my plan for 2010 is to add decent turntable and purevinyl. I will feed the turntables analog outputs into the analog inputs of the Ergo which does 24/96 ADC. Purevinyl will add gain and do RIAA correction, when the ergo gets the digital feed back from the mini it will do its room correction and send off to the speakers.

Computer audio is great.

[Crimson]

Hi and welcome to AC!

External DAC: KRK Ergo firewire dac

Would really like to hear your impressions of the Ergo.

[les anderson]

Hi and welcome to AC!

Would really like to hear your impressions of the Ergo.

Thanks. I was kind of surprised when I went to post and relaized I had never registered. I spend a lot of time at audioasylum but there seems to be a good buzz over here on apple stuff which is great.

I will break my impressions into 2 areas; 1. Ergo as a room correction device. 2. Ergo as a DAC.

As a room correction device the Ergo made a very positive impact on my system. Bass response became much more soilid and imaging further stabilized. The changes in bass impact are very apparent and easily noticable. What is intersting is the improvement occurs both in the sweet spot as well as way outside of it. So it is not like you correct one area while another area of the room falls apart.  The imaging improvement is also apparent but it would take a trained ear to to decipher the difference in most cases. Midrange clarity also seemed to improve but I am not sure I could pick out the difference every time in a blind test.

I have also been very pleased with the performance ofthe DAC which reportedly uses the same chip as the Logitch Transporter. (Cant remember which one off the top of my head) I have a Proceed AVP and a Dacmagic and it betters the AVP and is just as good as the dacmagic but slighly less warm in my opinion. It is very detailed. I am also running it off of firewire bus power which I have been told is not as good as using the wal wart. I just havent gotten around to ordering the proper firewire adapter cables.

I think you get an awful lot for the money which I have found typical of pro audio gear.

[konut]

Too bad the Ergo does not have a digital out for use with an external DAC. Would make a nice stand alone room correction device.

[les anderson]

Too bad the Ergo does not have a digital out for use with an external DAC. Would make a nice stand alone room correction device.

I agree that would be a nice feature. I would also like to be able to bypass the analog volume pot.

However, it does have an line level subwoofer crossover which is another nice feature. You just need to build around it, and not the other way around.

[agentsmith]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

    * Mac mini processor model: 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    * Operating system version: Snow Leopard
    * Hard drive type: 160GB Internal;  2GB+2GB Mirrored QNAP T219P NAS drive
    * Internal memory installed: 2GB


    * Monitor/keyboard: Pioneer Plasma, no keyboard
    * Wireless hardware: Not using wireless
    * Software music player(s): iTunes
    * Other method of controlling the mac mini: Screen sharing via Macbook pro


    * Amplifier, and type: Naim NAP200 Solid State
    * Pre amplifier: Naim NAC 282/HiCap.NAPSC
    * External DAC: Naim DAC
    * Other component: M2Tech Hiface USB-SPDIF adapter
    * Speakers: Harbeth Monitor 30
    * Interconnect types: QED SPDIF 75Ohm cable
    * Location of the mac mini: On hifi rack


Also provide comments on these:

a. If applicable, what is custom in this mac mini system?
Mini is bone stock.  Using M2Tech Hiface USB-SPDIF adapter to good effect

b. What feature or function would you add to the mac mini if you could (keeping the system within a similar price range?
- SD memory card input; 
- USB input in front
- Much bigger hard drive should be offered at this price
- Blu-Ray option
- Price too high for a box without even keyboard offered
- KB, Mouse and Wireless remote should be included at that price
- Wireless remote too basic

c. The part of your mac mini system that gives YOU the most satifaction/enjoyment ?
- Lovely form factor
- Mac OS ease of use
- Quietness, at least for now

d. Other comments:
Nice box, quite short on performance and features though

[Docere]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:


• Mac mini processor model: 2010, 2.4 GHz
• Operating system version: Snow Leopard 10.6.4
• Hard drive type (internal only or external) size and type (stand alone or RAID): Internal only at present; still undecided re external storage.
• Internal memory installed: 8  GB (yes, the differences vis-a-vis the std 2GB is significant (in the context of my system)
• Monitor/keyboard: Wireless keyboard and trackpad
• Wireless hardware: See above
• Software music player(s): Pure Music: Hog Mode and Memory Play (not hybrid); no software upsampling (my DAC upsamples to 384k - I prefer the pure hardware upsample)
• Other method of controlling the mac mini (VNC, custom remotes, etc): Just an Apple remote - rarely used. I would like an iPod Touch or iPhone.
• Amplifier, and type (eg. Solid state mono block, SET, Tube integrated): Metaxas Audio Systems Iraklis (very nice, but about to change to a low-gain custom SET)
• Pre amplifier: See below
• External DAC: Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 used as DAC and preamp
• Other component(s) in chain between mini and speakers: Nil
• Speakers in this system:Ambience Ultra 1600 ribbon hybrids (nice, but about to be changed)
• Interconnect types between mac mini and X: Belkin Gold USB; Kimber Select (copper) from DAC to Iraklis
• Location of the mac mini (eg. in the listening area, other room, or closet):On the equipment rack - essentially silent when playing back music.

Also provide comments on these:

a. If applicable, what is custom in this mac mini system?

b. What feature or function would you add to the mac mini if you could (keeping the system within a similar price range?

c. The part of your mac mini system that gives YOU the most satifaction/enjoyment ?
Sound quality, which is what I would consider musical when playing back most albums. There is further room for improvement by using external drive and a decent - but not crazy-priced - USB cable.

Other comments:
I like this source. With the recent memory upgrade the sonics are superior to a quality CD transport running into the same DAC and overall preferred to a nice Esoteric SACD player heard recently... I would like Pure Music to provide internet radio streaming.

[jacko2x]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

Mac mini processor model: 2010 Unibody
Operating system version: OS X 10.6.5
Hard drive type (internal only or external) size and type (stand alone or RAID): Applications (Stock Internal HD), Library (External Firewire 500GB on Oyen Enclosure)
Internal memory installed: 8G NuRam

Monitor/keyboard: HDMI to LCD TV, DisplayPort to NEC 23wmi IPS Panel, Wireless Keyboard
Wireless hardware: Wireless Trackpad
Software music player(s): Pure Music + iTunes
Other method of controlling the mac mini (VNC, custom remotes, etc): Apple Remote & iPhone Remote

Amplifier, and type (eg. Solid state mono block, SET, Tube integrated): Class D Audio SDS 254 & SET Tube Amp
Pre amplifier: Steinberg MR816X
External DAC: Steinberg MR816X
Speakers in this system: Hawthorne Duets
Interconnect types between mac mini and X: Firewire and TS/RCA
Location of the mac mini (eg. in the listening area, other room, or closet): Digital Rack away from Audio Rack

Also provide comments on these:

a. If applicable, what is custom in this mac mini system?
   Other than the upgrade to 8G ram, nothing else.

b. What feature or function would you add to the mac mini if you could (keeping the system within a similar price range?
   An eSata port.

c. The part of your mac mini system that gives YOU the most satifaction/enjoyment ?
   Sound Quality, Sound Quality, Sound Quality...
   Speed: Coming from a first gen MBP the speed bump from 1.86 to 2.4 has satisfied my audio desires the most and also my multimedia craves by giving me more headroom to process more audio/visual data.
   Noise: It's a quiet machine considering it uses an older tech spinning HD (from what I read)

d. Other comments:
   I'd probably like to add an SSD later on to make it quieter.
   Anyone thinking of using the Mac Mini as an audio transport would benefit by using the Firewire drive for their external library and USB for their transport purposes or vice versa as this isolates the data transmission from library to the external interface.
   Really love how Pure Music can upsample your sources to a target sample rate. In my case, my non-24/96 sources are upsampled to 24/96 which are then sent to my DAC. Oh the beauty of software upsampling.

Edit: I simplified my setup and removed the DAC, Buffer and Analog XO. It's now a bi-amped system with the Steinberg acting as both DAC and multichannel pre-amp with Pure Music acting as the Digital Active Crossover. This setup has now out resolved my ealier setup and the open baffle experience is something I may stick with for years to come

[vintagebob]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

Mac mini processor model: 2010 2.4GHz 320GB
Operating system version: OSX 10.6.6
Hard drive type (internal only or external) size and type (stand alone or RAID): External OYEN Digital 1TB Firewire 800
Internal memory installed: 8GB

Monitor/keyboard: NONE
Wireless hardware: NONE
Software music player(s): Pure Music
Other method of controlling the mac mini (VNC, custom remotes, etc): VNC = Desktop Connect, Remote = Apple Remote (iPad & iPhone)

Amplifier, and type (eg. Solid state mono block, SET, Tube integrated):SS McCormack DNC250
Pre amplifier: ModWright LS100
External DAC: dB Audio Labs Tranquility Signature Edition with dB Audio Labs Signature USB cable
Other component(s) in chain between mini and speakers:
Speakers in this system: SALK HT2-TLs
Interconnect types  BJC
Location of the mac mini (eg. in the listening area, other room, or closet): Listening Area

[bernardl]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:

Mac mini processor model: 2010 2.4GHz 320GB
Operating system version: OSX 10.10.4, running fully in 64 bits (EFI, Kernel boot mode and Kernel)
Hard drive type: Internal OWC 200GB Mercury Extreme Pro RE SSD for OSX and apps, music stored in powered external Lacie 2GB fanless HDD connected with USB2.0
Internal memory installed: 8GB (OWC)

Monitor/keyboard: NONE
Wireless hardware: NONE
Software music player(s): Audirvana 2.1/iTunes 12
Other method of controlling the mac mini: Remote = Apple Remote on iPad Air

Amplifier: Devialet D250 hybrid A/D class running firmware 8.1.3
Pre amplifier: Devialet
External DAC: Devialet
Speakers in this system: Wilson Benesch Vector on top of Acoustic Revive RST-38 boards, connected to devialet with Viard Audio Design HD20 speaker cables and speaker straps,
Interconnect types:  Viard Audio USB cable/generic ethernet cable (when using AIR input)
Location of the mac mini: Listening Area in semi closed wooden audio rack
Mains: PS Audio P10 feeding an Esoteric 7N-PC9300 power cable.

Having easier to replace HD on the Mac Mini would be a major improvement.

I would sure hope not to touch any of the components for the next 10 years or so, but I guess that OS obsolescence might force me to do some changes on the Mac mini side.

[Johnny2Bad]

My Mac Mini Audio System Description:
Mac mini processor model: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz
Operating system version: Mac OS X Server 10.6.6 build 1QJ567
Hard drive type (internal only or external) size and type (stand alone or RAID): 2x 500 GB Software RAID (Mirror); Audio on external 1TB drive via Firewire 800
Internal memory installed: 4 GB
Monitor/keyboard: None/None
Wireless hardware: Not enabled
Software music player(s): iTunes; Amadeus Pro
Other method of controlling the mac mini (VNC, custom remotes, etc): Screen Sharing via Gigabit Ethernet
Amplifier, and type (eg. Solid state mono block, SET, Tube integrated): Anthem AMP-1 stereo (vacuum tube) 40 wpc
Pre amplifier: Audio Experience Symphonies (vacuum tube)
External DAC:
Other component(s) in chain between mini and speakers:
Speakers in this system: Energy Connoisseur C-2; Energy ESW-C10 subwoofer
Interconnect types between mac mini and X:DIY analog to preamp
Location of the mac mini (eg. in the listening area, other room, or closet): Server Cabinet
Also provide comments on these:
a. If applicable, what is custom in this mac mini system?
b. What feature or function would you add to the mac mini if you could (keeping the system within a similar price range?
c. The part of your mac mini system that gives YOU the most satifaction/enjoyment ?
d. Other comments:


Comments:The Mini performs the following: as a file server and backup management to connected machines (obviously); a 24-7 security system with video storage (4 iSight 640x480p cameras) and as the primary digital audio device. No mp3's; all 16/44.1 or higher resolution.
There is an additional 1.5 TB FW 800 external drive which stores regular backups, including audio, and occasionally those are manually backed up to normally offsite stored drives.
Am considering adding Channel D Pure Music software to iTunes. The server performs without hiccups while going about the work I have assigned to it, including music playback.
A better DAC would be nice but will have to wait.
This replaced a G4 1.53 Mini which worked fine as a music server but could not handle the additional tasks I've assigned to the server. The Server version of Mac OS X is extremely robust compared to doing the same things on standard OS X w/ the G4.
Normally the server is controlled by a MacBook Pro via hardwired Ethernet (available at the listening position). WiFi and Bluetooth are disabled on all machines and the DSL modem.
What I like the best about it is it's effortlessness. Log into the server and play music from the listening chair, and it never, ever, gives me any grief. The server and drives are locked and out of sight. Reboots for software updates only.

[mchuckp]

Anyone have any comments on if one needs to jack up the memory if your primary goal is audio playback?  The standard 1g good enough?  I don't mind going higher if it would have a positive effect.  Just don't like to spend money unnecessarily.  I'd likely do some video but I'm not a videophile so don't really care if it is perfect.  1st and foremost, audio.

Thanks.

[Atlplasma]

I think it depends on what you are using for playback. Pure Music benefits from more ram. I just installed 8 GB in my Mini.

[spartan2]

Hi,
Has anybody tried to change the PS of the new mini?
JM

[spartan2]

I wonder if a linear PS built for the older mini can be adapted to the new one.

[ultrafi]

The old mini is 18 volts and something on the order of 7.5 amps peak, if I recall - it's a 110 watt unit.  The 2010 mini is 12 volts and 85 watts.  Both run on substantially less in ordinary operation.  So, possible; but, it is really over kill.

Either way the 2010 mini is sonically superior.  I dunno why people can't get this one straight.

[brj]

Either way the 2010 mini is sonically superior.  I dunno why people can't get this one straight.

Why do you assume they don't have it straight?  Many people may simply have not be able to justify the funds to buy a new computer and are looking to make the best use of what they already own.