Mac Mini vs. Macbook Pro as a server

There are too many of us that are getting world class performance with the Mini and Pro and other DACs.

I wandered around RMAF for a couple of days recently and heard a few rooms that had systems in them the cost of which could otherwise buy a house or put someone through college. The best of them used all matter of front ends, including digital. In fact, my vote for best sound would probably come down to three, and in that group is a room using a MacMini source (with SSD - actually it was modded by a company called Mach2Music, which were in more than one room - I have no knowledge of what else they do to the Mini but you can google it and find out) - the Empirical Audio / YG Acoustics room: Just a beautifully sorted out system and the sound, throughout several cuts of diverse music on more than one occasion, was spot-on. Nothing to flaw, and I did not want to get up and leave. There were many rooms that had me leaving after a brief listen as well.

I'm very happy with the sound from my digital front end. Don't know if it's "world class" but it certainly sounds great to me. Haven't had the experience of CD players surpassing the sound, and have done a bit of comparisons, though not enough to write home about. The better vinyl rigs would probably take my vote, but I don't think the gap is such a chasm as many make it out to be. I guess it depends on the individual. I don't miss vinyl.

.

No, not attached to anything except my speakers because I built them in the room and they are too big to get through the door. I've only ripped a few records. The main reason I use Pure Vinyl is because I'm triamping with amps connected directly to the drivers. I modded my RME to bypass the output opamps and built my own 6 channel amp. PV allows me to do the crossover digitally before the amps and to time align the woofer. There are very few options for getting that done. From the output of the DAC chip I have only a transformer, 2 stages of triode amplification directly coupled, and the output transformer direct to the spekaer.

I am interested in the modified Mini but not convinced it is worth the extra $$. If you are moving on perhaps you could send it over so I could try it out :>)

Yes sir, things do advance but I don't think there has been a huge leap in the past few months that surpasses what you can do with a computer (not just the mini) and a DAC that mates well with one.

Glad to hear you are making progress and pleased with it.
.

Mac Mini sounds better than the Macbook PRO for sure.
I have both and the Mini wins all the time.
Its more dynamic, more open sounding & just more lively.
Hoewver, the Macbook PRo still sounds great with convenience.
If you dont hear them side by side, the PRO is already very good.

This is a bit off subject but I just want to say THANK YOU to Thehouseofsound for your opinion and experience and your conclusions. I've only been into computer audio for a short time and it always made sense to go the music server route. Computers are just too noisy, there's the inherent limits of USB (although it can sound great, for the time being), and just the use of a well done music add on shows just how much competition there is for that sound card in a computer. There is no way of getting around that. Also, the Mach2Music is a heavily modified MacMini that has practically everything not related to audio taken out so as to not sully the sound.
Right now you can get dedicated music servers that are really good for about $1500. Ex: http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/main.sc

Again, thanks.

Nonoise

.

For someone who has only been in it for a short time it is amazing that you have reached such definitive conclusions against when so many of us are getting excellent results. With limited experience one can only conclude that your conclusion is based on what others have told you, not what you have found out for yourself. I encourage you to keep an open mind, not everything you hear or read on the internet is true.

Have you actually used the server you say is really good? Why should it be better than a PC or Mac if all are properly set up? It is after all just another computer. In fact, it is just an "optimized" windows based computer which is exactly what you just told us was inferior.