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Regarding hacking the Mac Mini to boot the 64-bit kernel:I gave it a try. The instructions to change the efi file worked fine. The instructions to edit the plist file were wrong and overly complicated. Apple provides a much easier command line entry to do it: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3773I wouldn't recommend doing it at all, however. I booted into 64-bit mode (confirmed in System Profiler), and the sound quality was worse. The highs were a bit rougher, and things were not as rich and musical. It certainly didn't improve anything.So I checked the Applications list, and iTunes is a 32-bit application. Booting into 64-bit certainly isn't freeing iTunes to do anything better. The other system components are a mix of 32 and 64 bit, but it doesn't seem to help the sound quality to have them running under the 64 bit kernel.Your mileage may vary, but I would avoid it. All my files are in AIFF format, so iTunes is doing very little work to get them out the door to my Tranquility DAC as it is.
It doesn't look like anyone answered your question about tweaking your MacBook.1. Shut off Spotlight indexing by removing the check in the box from every category that Spotlight can index (this is in System Preferences, the Spotlight options). This prevents Spotlight from running in the background.2. Connect your music hard drive to the Mac by FireWire, preferably using a 2.5" drive in a drive enclosure that draws power from the FireWire port, not using a wall-wart.3. Quoting from Eric Hider on this one:"Turn your Dashboard off:Open the utility program called "Terminal" (in Applications)Type EXACTLY as written below (all spaces included, EXACTLY as written caps, spaces, dots and dashes !!!) defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES Hit your enter keyNow type in the next command EXACTLY as written "D" in the word dock is CAPITALIZED killall Dock Hit your enter - Note: Your dashboard will now no longer open on your front desktop page.... and be constantly using your memory "4. Again, quoting from Eric:"Turn your journaling off -Open "Disk Utility" (located in Applications/Utilities).Highlight the name Macintosh HD on the left side of choicesTo disable journaling, press Option key on keyboard, WHILE HOLDING ON TO the OPTION key - select disable journaling from the top of your screen on the file menu."5. In System Profiler, check what devices are shared on the port that the Tranquility DAC is connected to. Try to get it onto a USB port by itself. The best I can do is get it to share a port with the IR receiver (which I don't use).Those are the tweaks that I've used to the benefit of my system.Happy listening.
I would add that my latest upgrade, replacing the stock brick power supply with a Bolder linear power supply made a very noticable improvement. Ken
For what it's worth, I've been using an early generation Asus EEEpc with solid state hard drive running a netbook version of linux for quite some time. Energy efficient and battery operable, yes. Am I certain it's better than the Mac Mini options? No. Is linux a pain in the royal ars? Absolutely. I want to use it for connectivity for streaming online video, and the netbook multimedia capabilities are really bad. Furthermore, the compatibility for output to my HDTV is piss poor. Finally, Netflix streaming doesn't support linux at all, so that's completely out. I'm pretty much fed up and ready to bite the bullet on a Mac Mini to give that a try. Probably will use the Asus as a remote for the Mini from my listening position. Maybe someone else has done a comparison on audio quality. If not, and if I ever get around to trying the Mini, I'll try to post my findings.~Ben
Tony,See this thread:http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=62364.0
It doesn't look like anyone answered your question about tweaking your MacBook.1. Shut off Spotlight indexing by removing the check in the box from every category that Spotlight can index (this is in System Preferences, the Spotlight options). This prevents Spotlight from running in the background.2. Connect your music hard drive to the Mac by FireWire, preferably using a 2.5" drive in a drive enclosure that draws power from the FireWire port, not using a wall-wart.3. Quoting from Eric Hider on this one:"Turn your Dashboard off:Open the utility program called "Terminal" (in Applications)Type EXACTLY as written below (all spaces included, EXACTLY as written caps, spaces, dots and dashes !!!) defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES Hit your enter keyNow type in the next command EXACTLY as written "D" in the word dock is CAPITALIZED killall Dock Hit your enter - Note: Your dashboard will now no longer open on your front desktop page.... and be constantly using your memory "4. Again, quoting from Eric:"Turn your journaling off -Open "Disk Utility" (located in Applications/Utilities).Highlight the name Macintosh HD on the left side of choicesTo disable journaling, press Option key on keyboard, WHILE HOLDING ON TO the OPTION key - select disable journaling from the top of your screen on the file menu."5. In System Profiler, check what devices are shared on the port that the Tranquility DAC is connected to. Try to get it onto a USB port by itself. The best I can do is get it to share a port with the IR receiver (which I don't use).Those are the tweaks that I've used to the benefit of my system.Happy listening. Oh, and I moved from a MacBook to a Mac Mini and it does make a noticeable difference (as long as you run the Mini without a monitor, mouse, or keyboard connected; just access it via Screen Sharing from another Mac after you turn on Screen Sharing after initial setup)And a further note: after I moved to the Mac Mini I installed a solid state drive in it. That also improved the sound. I got a small one (64Gb OCZ Vertex Turbo, for what it's worth). It's just runs a fresh install of Mac OS 10.6.4, so it only needs 20-30 Gb of space.And I did not upgrade the memory beyond 2 Gb. I'm using AIFF files, so there's little work by the computer to unpack them (as there would be with Apple Lossless or FLAC--but this is getting into a debated area, so make what you will of that).
If you turn off the dashboard how are accessing itunes, sonos,safari etc?
Oh my gosh, thank you for posting these 5 steps. Just performed steps 1, 3, and 4 (2 and 5 already done previously) and I'm amazed at the difference. My music has never sounded so focused and clear. Cost = $0! How did I never see these instructions anywhere before?For reference, I have Mac Mini (OS 10.6) -- Tranquility DAC -- Virtue Sensation M901 -- Gallo StradasI thought it was already pretty good but this was a nice bump up for a couple minutes of work.
My latest Tranquility tweaks...I've had my DAC for awhile now and short of a speaker upgrade I did not think I would significantly improve on the current sound. Last week I purchased some TerraStone footers from EdenSound for my amp. They do have a positive effect supporting my LFD integrated but not as profound as when placing them beneath the Tranquility where a whole new level of transparency now exists. Has anyone else had good experiences with footers and their Tranquility? Not directly related to the DAC but I also recently replaced my Porter Port outlet (which has been my reference for a number of years) with a Maestro from Fernando Cruz and have to say that it is now my new standard. As many have noted the PP is a great outlet that allows so much more of the music to come through without boosting or unduly shaping any part of the musical spectrum. The Maestro seems to do just that but to a greater extent than the PP.
There will also be an upcoming post on Audiogon of a direct comparison between our Tranquility DAC / Mini / Essential USB cable solution and the highly touted $15,000 Vitus CD player.
I understand that Eric Hider recommends and gives great support to those using a Mac Mini with his Tranquility DAC. My question is why wouldn't a Linux solution as discussed in this thread by NYC Paramedic be a better solution than the Mac?: From everything I have read the tweaking of the Mac Mini is essentially removing all possible processes not directly involved with audio playback and killing the mechanical noise of HDDs by replaceing the spinning disc with a SSD unit. Nick's (NYC Paramedic) Linux solution has nearly zero overhead and that includes the total lack of video and drive management since he is porting the music over the network. I would appreciate any light that could be shed on the subject.