How my new Hard drive makes my sound better!

TrungT · « **Reply #20 on:** 25 May 2010, 06:37 pm »

Mac Mini with Music Streamer II.
Samsung 2T external hard drive with 12v battery powered.
Play music with "Play" http://sbooth.org/Play/ , Itunes just organize the musics.
To me the "Play" just sound better. It just play almost anything.

skunark · « **Reply #21 on:** 25 May 2010, 11:10 pm »

Quote from: Lizard_King on 25 May 2010, 06:13 pm

The mac mini s is known to be the best transport computer period! I know several people who use them and swear by them. Hint: Do not use itunes!

Mac Mini and the Macbook/Macbook Pros use roughly the same hardware. The one advantage macbooks might have over the mac mini is the ability to run it from the battery if you feel the wall wart is a bit noisy. I think the main reason why the mac mini is so popular is the price. Macbooks/pros also have a few advantages as you aren't required to have an external display where your stereo is at.

Dracule1 · « **Reply #22 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 12:18 am »

Thanks for your recommendation Lizard_King. After long search for external drives for my Mac Mini, I have ordered two of the 1 TB Mini Pro Firewire 800/USB drive. It appears just what I have been looking for...no flashy lights, minimal noise, well-made aluminum case, good Firewire/USB chip, and compact size. A little more expensive than other external drives I have looked into, but Oyen has a 30 day return policy if things don't work out.

rnxrx · « **Reply #23 on:** 14 Jun 2010, 02:44 am »

Quote from: skunark on 25 May 2010, 11:10 pm

Mac Mini and the Macbook/Macbook Pros use roughly the same hardware. The one advantage macbooks might have over the mac mini is the ability to run it from the battery if you feel the wall wart is a bit noisy. I think the main reason why the mac mini is so popular is the price. Macbooks/pros also have a few advantages as you aren't required to have an external display where your stereo is at.

There's no need for a display. I use the built-in desktop sharing to control my mini over the network from any of my other machines. As for noise from the power supply, using the toslink connection should pretty much cut noise out of the equation.

skunark · « **Reply #24 on:** 14 Jun 2010, 05:09 am »

Quote from: rnxrx on 14 Jun 2010, 02:44 am

There's no need for a display. I use the built-in desktop sharing to control my mini over the network from any of my other machines. As for noise from the power supply, using the toslink connection should pretty much cut noise out of the equation.

Mac Minis rock for a music server, but my point was any macbook would have the same features as they pretty much have identical hardware. Both will work equally as good and per each users requirement you can find a role for each one. If you are the type that like to have a battery only gear then a macbook would also help you fill that role and you still can use the toslink for additional noise separation.

Even more comforting if you go to Benchmark's wiki you can see their test results proving that iTunes and Macs can be bit transparent.. So that's even one more win for the mac hardware.

rnxrx · « **Reply #25 on:** 14 Jun 2010, 04:38 pm »

Quote from: skunark on 14 Jun 2010, 05:09 am

Mac Minis rock for a music server, but my point was any macbook would have the same features as they pretty much have identical hardware. Both will work equally as good and per each users requirement you can find a role for each one. If you are the type that like to have a battery only gear then a macbook would also help you fill that role and you still can use the toslink for additional noise separation.

Even more comforting if you go to Benchmark's wiki you can see their test results proving that iTunes and Macs can be bit transparent.. So that's even one more win for the mac hardware.

I get where you're coming from. I have several mac laptops (yikes... seven between work and personal!) and the mini (and OS X running as a vm on a Linux server) and have been quite pleased with the audio performance of both the mini and the laptop. I personally like the mini because it's not only substantially cheaper than a laptop (even the base MacBook costs more) but it also fits neatly into a tiny space in my rack while still leaving plenty of room to spare for DAC's, switches, DVI breakouts for the SACD, etc.

On the power supply issue - I hear you, but would also point out that the Mini has an external power brick and, as such, is actually taking DC power. There are lots of examples of folks installing Mini's in their car and, as such, there's precedent for supplying the 18V DC feed from a standard battery setup. It's clearly more of a DIY exercise than using a laptop, but it may make sense for some folks (especially those that have already gone the battery route a la Redwine and such).

writeface · « **Reply #26 on:** 15 Jun 2010, 08:38 pm »

Apple has a mac mini.. with HDMI..
http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html

Dracule1 · « **Reply #27 on:** 24 Jun 2010, 10:00 am »

The new Mac Mini has a internal class D power supply (probably class D), which in theory is could generate more noise for audio applications than the present external power supply.

Lizard_King · « **Reply #28 on:** 25 Jun 2010, 05:53 am »

You ARE WELCOME

Quote from: Dracule1 on 10 Jun 2010, 12:18 am

Thanks for your recommendation Lizard_King. After long search for external drives for my Mac Mini, I have ordered two of the 1 TB Mini Pro Firewire 800/USB drive. It appears just what I have been looking for...no flashy lights, minimal noise, well-made aluminum case, good Firewire/USB chip, and compact size. A little more expensive than other external drives I have looked into, but Oyen has a 30 day return policy if things don't work out.

silver_strings · « **Reply #29 on:** 7 Jul 2010, 07:45 am »

Has anyone tried an SSD drive they supposedly emit very little noise, over at the computer audiophile forum theyre all the rage everyone says that they offer the best sound quality for a computer I'm going to put one in my mac mini when I get it.

ted_b · « **Reply #30 on:** 7 Jul 2010, 11:46 am »

My MAcbook server is SSD internal and is wonderful. Quick boot ups, silent and no issues. Great for the OS and apps; too small for music.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #31 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 06:29 am »

Ted_b,

Can you point me to the 4 pin firewire adaptor that you mentioned earlier in this thread?

Looks like I am getting a Weiss DAC2, and will be following in your audio footsteps, so any other tips (or pointers to tips) on that set-up would be much appreciated.

werd · « **Reply #32 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 06:50 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 7 Jul 2010, 11:46 am

My MAcbook server is SSD internal and is wonderful. Quick boot ups, silent and no issues. Great for the OS and apps; too small for music.

Hi Ted

Have you tried it for tunes yet, just wondering how it sounds the SSD drives?

silver_strings · « **Reply #33 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 08:20 am »

I just put a 128GB SSD in my macbook pro , yes there is a definite improvement in sound quality. I'm not good at describing sound but there more detail and more weight to sound and the backgrounds are silent, the music seems faster like it doesnt have a hard time with the dynamics so dynamics are much better. The improvements in speed and to my computer is also really nice.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #34 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 02:54 pm »

Silver_Strings,

What brand SSD did you end up going with?

Levi · « **Reply #35 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 03:18 pm »

Great write up Lizard_King!

In addition to your HDD quest, if you can run at 64bit, you will have even higher performance overall. It totally eliminate that pause (hdd seeking) you hear when you are listening to music. I found SCSI drives sounds even better as it has it's own controller (no sequential bottlenecks) and lasts longer than regular drives. Finally, Lots of fast memory DDR3 helps. That means you have to upgrade your hardware and OS.

Ok. For now concentrate on the 64bit.

silver_strings · « **Reply #36 on:** 25 Jul 2010, 10:41 pm »

I got a 128bg Kingston SSDnow gen 2 SSD drive

werd · « **Reply #37 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 12:41 am »

Quote from: silver_strings on 25 Jul 2010, 10:41 pm

I got a 128bg Kingston SSDnow gen 2 SSD drive

Good to know thanx....

low.pfile · « **Reply #38 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 12:47 am »

I've seen other reports/reviews on SSD advantage for a music server, but I don't get it. At the price/GB, only small capacity is feasible, so how are you using the SSD for music? As an reference a 128GB drive is approximately only 85-90 uncompressed ( .wav or .aiff ) albums-obviously very limited. Are they temporarily copying over albums to a folder in the SSD for playback then swapping out albums files as needed? Seems like a hassle for everyday use if your digital library is larger than that.
just curious.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #39 on:** 26 Jul 2010, 01:26 am »

I believe that the key thing is to have your system on an SSD drive. I think the dedicated audio configuration I most commonly come across on these forums is to have a stripped down system for audio only on an SSD drive, and then the music files mostly or entirely on an external hard drive.