2. pc-audio
  3. 1105542684

Mini Mac as audio server?

OK, I've existed in blissful ignorance of the OSX world, being a Windows dude. But, this little miniMac thing might change my world. Small enuf to stick next to the stereo... Cheap enuf too... With DVI and DVD, probably eliminates my DVD player as well. Check it out:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

Sooo, someone wanna educate a non-OSX user on audio via Macs? Right now I'm 70% through ripping over 1K CDs to WAV files. I'm thinking the files will eventually end up on one of the Buffalo Terabyte NAS RAID 5 devices when they become available next month. So... the questions...

- Can I play the WAV files via iTunes?
- Is iTunes smart enuf to recognize that I've dropped the files into /Artist/Album directory format and create tags?
- Anyone using an Edirol UA-1D via USB out of the Mac? Any compatibility issues?
- Anything better to do PCM output from the Mac than the Edirol?
- If I watch a DVD, and output the video to my plasma via the DVI port, will the Apple media software recognize that I want PCM output, not multichannel?

Any help appreciated.
edesilva
themadmilkman
182 posts
 
Mcmanus-- There are too many variables to give an easy answer to that question. Basically, your CD player is going Drive --> DAC --> Analog output. All the computer is doing is replacing the CD drive with a hard drive. So the answer will depend on the quality of the design of all the different components more than saying "This > that."

That said, I would give the nod to the computer. Plus, it's just cool to have all your music right there.
hitchhike79
2 posts
 
Anyone know what kind of fan noise this thing has when its processing and all?
fishpatrol
30 posts
 
Well, I'm talking beyond my knowledge here, but I haven't seen a computer upsample to 24/96. If you've had really good results with oversampling compared with 16/44, maybe that's worth considering. Also, if you're ripping a CD at 48x, your bit order might not be as pristine as you'd wish. But if you get a good initial rip, you should have good playback every time. Just with there was an EAC equivalent for the Mac.

Hitchhike, my iBook's fan kicks in when the going gets rough, heavy work in Photoshop or other really processor-intensive tasks. The fan is certainly audible, though not bothersome if I'm also listening to music at the same time. I've heard similar reports about the mini. Silent during normal tasks; when it's working hard enough to kick in the fan it's definitely audible. For normal iTunes playback, I wouldn't expect it to be an issue. If you're playing back a full-quality divx file from the hard drive, it might be a different story. In short, your mileage will surely vary with the task.
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
Fishpatrol is right on. I've used the mini to playback some 720p and 1080i files, and the fan kicks in almost immediately--it is quiet for a computer, but it is audible to me 9 ft away without any soundtrack.

Apparently iTunes doesn't require the mini to think hard enuf to get hot and bothered. It will sit there quietly pumping out tunes w/o any background noise.
fishpatrol
30 posts
 
In-store yesterday with a Mac mini 1.42 w/512 RAM, I took it to task. iTunes playing music, large-size visualizer, QT playing back a trailer, Photoshop Elements 3 rasterizing a PDF, and me goofing around in Pages. With this little RAM, switching between apps was exceedingly slow, but once to an app it performed admirably. Never actually heard the fan, and I did stick my ear down to it once. (You know, trying not to look too suspicious.) Obviously there was plenty of room noise, but I can sure hear my iBook's fan when it kicks in, noisy room or not. I'd take this as a good sign.

I dearly want to sell my MDD Tower, it's noisy as sin. But for what I'm likely to get for it, it's a pretty lateral move. MDD: faster, room for internal drives, PCI slots, more RAM slots. Mini: smaller form factor, iLife '05, much quieter...
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