Which SSD do you recommend for Mac Mini?

Mike Gillespie · « **on:** 24 Jan 2011, 07:57 am »

Only using new Mac Mini exclusively for OS and Itunes or other music file playback software. Will use external firewire for AIFF music storage. I have about 3.5 tb of AIFF music on the 4tb Firewire drive and about 100,000 plus files according to Itunes. Think 128gb will work? Which SSD models have worked the best for you? Also, if I buy a 2.5" drive, do I need to buy a 3.5 to 2.5" adapter to fit into the Mac Mini? Currently, there are 2 500gb SATA and 8gb of RAM and I'll pull both of the 500's out. Thanks. Mike.

jtwrace · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Jan 2011, 10:39 am »

OCZ Vertex

lcrim · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Jan 2011, 11:30 am »

wrong Circle. Belongs in Apple Core.

Mike Gillespie · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Jan 2011, 04:32 pm »

Sorry, Icrim, can you clarify your answer. Not sure what you mean by wrong circle re apple core relationship to SSD. Thanks. Mike

lcrim · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Jan 2011, 04:58 pm »

There is a Circle specifically for Apple/Mac HW/SW called the APPLE Core. You probably should have looked around a bit.

sfig · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Jan 2011, 05:22 pm »

No adapter to 3.5" required for 2.5" SSD for the 2010 mac mini.

dmccombs · « **Reply #6 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 05:00 pm »

Mike,

You just need a 2.5 SDD drive, no adapter is necessary. since you have all your music on external drives, you don't need a big internal SSD. The normal OSX and a few players comes to 8-9GB. Allowing for swap space, a 40GB drive is plenty.

BTW, I suggest moving to a different music besides iTunes. You seem serious about sound quality and iTunes is the worst player in that respect. Getting into Amarra, Pure Music, Play.app, Audirvana or Decible will give you a nice SQ boost. There are other good players, I just listed a few to consider.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

Atlplasma · « **Reply #7 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 05:30 pm »

I recognize that a SSD will deliver better performance but will it improve the sound of my Mini music server?

jtwrace · « **Reply #8 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 05:39 pm »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 26 Jan 2011, 05:30 pm

I recognize that a SSD will deliver better performance but will it improve the sound of my Mini music server?

SSD = better performance = improved sound

So I'd say yes from my experience with my SSD.

Atlplasma · « **Reply #9 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 06:29 pm »

Okay. I ordered a 60 GB OCZ drive from Newegg. With the instant and mail-in rebates it's a hair under a C note.

jtwrace · « **Reply #10 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 06:31 pm »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 26 Jan 2011, 06:29 pm

Okay. I ordered a 60 GB OCZ drive from Newegg. With the instant and mail-in rebates it's a hair under a C note.

Good choice. I've got a 120 GB OCZ Vertex and couldn't be happier.

dmccombs · « **Reply #11 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 08:48 pm »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 26 Jan 2011, 05:30 pm

I recognize that a SSD will deliver better performance but will it improve the sound of my Mini music server?

Absolutely. The SSD allows for a lower noise floor and all the good things that comes with that.

Take it slow and easy on the installation.

Atlplasma · « **Reply #12 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 08:52 pm »

I have 8 gb of ram on the way. Figure I might as well do everything at one time given what a pain it is to take the mini apart.

jtwrace · « **Reply #13 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 08:58 pm »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 26 Jan 2011, 08:52 pm

I have 8 gb of ram on the way. Figure I might as well do everything at one time given what a pain it is to take the mini apart.

Very good idea

sfraser · « **Reply #14 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 11:27 pm »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 26 Jan 2011, 05:30 pm

I recognize that a SSD will deliver better performance but will it improve the sound of my Mini music server?

Nope it wont improve the sound, however it won't add any extra noise to the listening environment, assuming it is located in the listening environment. However i never found mechanical drive noise to be an issue either except in very low level late night listening sessions.

They do make a wicked boot drive though 10 seconds and your cooking with gas!

jtwrace · « **Reply #15 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 11:28 pm »

Quote from: sfraser on 26 Jan 2011, 11:27 pm

They do make a wicked boot drive though 10 seconds and your cooking with gas!

Mine is 20 seconds.

sfraser · « **Reply #16 on:** 26 Jan 2011, 11:33 pm »

Quote from: jtwrace on 26 Jan 2011, 11:28 pm

Mine is 20 seconds.

Mac OS? I'm running Ubuntu... 10 seconds 20 seconds ..it's all good!

And certainly better than my work provided Xp laptop.....boot it and go grab a coffee and don't hurry back!

dmccombs · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 Jan 2011, 02:28 pm »

Quote from: sfraser on 26 Jan 2011, 11:27 pm

Nope it wont improve the sound, however it won't add any extra noise to the listening environment, assuming it is located in the listening environment.

We have done numerous tests and found that SSD drives do help the sound. The results were very clear in our tests. We ran identically configured mac minis (except the hard drive type) against each other.

Have you done any A/B tests with an SSD and a conventional drive? I am curious how you determined that an SSD wont help the sound.

I could understand not hearing a difference in a mid-fi system. It may not be resolving enough. In that case the money being considered for an SSD drive should go into the pot for better speakers, etc.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

sfraser · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Jan 2011, 02:58 pm »

Quote from: dmccombs on 27 Jan 2011, 02:28 pm

We have done numerous tests and found that SSD drives do help the sound. The results were very clear in our tests. We ran identically configured mac minis (except the hard drive type) against each other.

Have you done any A/B tests with an SSD and a conventional drive? I am curious how you determined that an SSD wont help the sound. If you you've done anything beyond speculating, it would be great to hear your experience.

Yep I tried it on squeezeserver back to back.... 64G crucial SSD and WD 2 TB SATA 2 mechanical drive. It was accidental actually when I was rebuilding the box.

I am curious in your speculation on why you heard a difference?

Did you swap the drives between macs by any chance?

dmccombs · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Jan 2011, 03:45 pm »

Quote from: sfraser on 27 Jan 2011, 02:58 pm

Yep I tried it on squeezeserver back to back.... 64G crucial SSD and WD 2 TB SATA 2 mechanical drive. It was accidental actually when I was rebuilding the box.

I am curious in your speculation on why you heard a difference?

Did you swap the drives between macs by any chance?

I not familiar with a squeezeserver, is this a PC based server?

We have tested this many ways. We have lots of mac minis and SSD drives in stock, so equipment isn't an issue.

We have done tests where we take a stock mac mini, listen to it, then upgrade the SSD. The difference was noticeable, but since it takes a good 60 minutes to do the upgrade and re-set everything up, we wanted a quicker way to A/B things.

We also took a stock mac mini and one where we just upgraded the SSD. The software setups were identical. Again the difference was clear, and the machine swap took only ~2 minutes.

In each test we used the same cables, DAC, software setup, etc...

I'm not an engineer, but I speculate that the SSD drives help in two ways.
1) The draw less power and therefore throw less electrical noise back into the system.
2) The read and writes are so much faster the CPU has to wait on disk I/O less. the less the CPU waits or timeslices, then more accurate the timing of the music playback.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com