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Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup

Hi all,

My beloved PWT transport was shipped out for service last week, so in the mean time I decided to experiment with the Mac Mini which usually resides in my 2nd system. It was no surprise that it doesn't even come close to the PWT, but it sounds OK, and now i'm curious as of what I can achieve with it without spending another $2K.

It's a stock Mac Mini about 2 years old with an SSD drive.
I'm using it to stream TIDAL Hi-Fi.
I have it hooked up to a Schiit Wyrd USB re-generator via a Pangea silver USB 2 cable, which in turn is feeding my DSD via a WireWorld Starlight 7 USB 2 cable.
My thinking was that the Mac-to-Schiit path will be less critical in terms of cables, as it gets regenerated anyway, but I'm open to listen and learn...
That "Wyrd Schiit" re-generator did make quite a noticeable positive impact when I hooked it up in my 2nd system.

My question is - what will be the best bang-for-the-buck upgrades? 

I guess the switching power supply is a weak link so I looked at Mojo Audio stuff and those prices seem unreasonable - they want more for their power supply than what I paid for my PWT (including its superb power supply).
Any other recommended power supply upgrade kits?
I'm good with DIY and can probably do the upgrade myself.

Perhaps go with much better cables? Better isolation? Better re-generator?
What did you guys try that proved to really do the "magic" for similar setups?
Perhaps it is a 'losing battle' and it will never sound nearly as good as my PWT without spending $2K in upgrades?

Thanks for your advice!

Ami

128x128ami
dbtom2
382 posts
 
@ghosthouse 

My recommendation to you is to look seriously at a MacMini to hold and play your rips. You can run it headless and control it from your MacBook using Screenshare and / or iPad//iPhone using Apple's remote app. You already know the operating system and could have it up and running in no time. Eventually you could use it (with an Apple Superdrive or equivalent) to rip CDs. All told, still well under $1000.00.

That WD Hard Drive will connect right up to the Mini.

You'd have the iTunes software and the Apple remote app to control selection and playback - no costs there.

No, a MacMini is not a dedicated music server and yes, it IS a computer but they work great, sound great and you already know how the operating system works. It has an HDMI port so you can connect a TV when you need to do any troubleshooting. I have mine sitting under my 60" flatscreen, a Magic Mouse and Wireless keyboard handy. So I use my Mini for more than music. But it plays all my music and I control it wherever I am with my iMac, iPad, iPhone.

Just my free advice. ;)



jond's avatar
jond
5,880 posts
 
@ghosthouse yes it plays ALAC this is cut and pasted from the Auralic website:

The Tesla platform has a calculation ability of 25,000 MIPS, more than enough to decode a vast spectrum of audio formats, including AAC, AIFF, ALAC, APE, DIFF, DSF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WV and WMA.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,316 posts
 
Tom -  BTW-read you post about sonics during the Sunday service at the old Baptist church.  Well written.  Felt like I had been there.  

Thanks for your input.  The Apple Mac Mini is something I have been thinking about too.  Thought the Aries Mini might be cheaper.  Did not know there was a remote app for the Mac Mini.  I was thinking wireless mouse and keyboard needed to do initial set up.  Would screenshare allow that to be done from my Macbook?    

There are pluses for staying with Apple besides familiarity.  BitPerfect is one of them....low cost music playback software that improves over iTunes alone.  Only $10 but it does seem to make things sound better.  AND with a Mac Mini I'd be able to watch YouTube music videos on the flatscreen with sound into the main system.  

The upside to the Aries is it's dedicated and would save me a few bucks on the mouse and keyboard since I could control from an iPhone.  Downside is no BitPerfect and no YouTube.  

The good news right now is I can sit tight and do nothing for a while.  Of course, prices always seem to rise over time.  Thanks again for the input.


ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,316 posts
 
Hi @jond. Thanks.  I had read that and did understand it could do ALAC. My uncertainty was about whether it could read those files from a powered, external Western Digital hard drive. Wasn’t sure I could assume that simply from your NAS experience.
dbtom2
382 posts
 
@ghosthouse

On your iPhone go to appstore and download free Apple iTunes remote app.

Set up iTunes for remote (in preferences) and voila, you can control your Itunes on macbook from your phone.

Yes you can use screenshare to control macmini but its nice to have a keyboard, mouse and monitor handy to set it up first. If your mini will be close to tv anyway, then there you go. (I surf on the big screen all the time. Great for youtube and Tidal videos too.)

Let me add that the MacMini is a very quiet machine. I've only made the fan run a few times, usually when using HQPlayer to upsample to DSD. Even then, it doesn't occur each time. 

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