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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
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,318 posts
 
@sbank  - Thanks for your comments, especially the tips on the album artwork.  I need to see if I can identify some common denominator between the albums that are missing artwork via the Lightning.  I don't have any purchases from the iTunes store, so it's not that.  

I've been trying to read what I can about the Aries.  There's a recent (Sept) Mini  review on CA.  There was a little LPS discussion in the comments to that review  but nothing extensive.  I might try the iPower wall wart ($49) from Music Direct in the interim.  It's still a switcher but supposedly very low noise.  Just don't know if it will give the "bigger sound" some have reported from LPS use.    

Thanks again.  


jond's avatar
jond
5,883 posts
 
@ghosthouse Thanks for the heads up on the CA review, it's quite well done and informative.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,318 posts
 
Hey @jond  - glad to return a favor.


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dctom
111 posts
 
It may not make sense but it is the case.
It is generally accepted a ssd will decrease the noise within the computer's environment helping SQ. The music is contained in an external HD.
I used the same playback software on the Mac with OSX  and when the machine was converted to linux, my dell also used the same software  (Jriver).
I am not alone finding linux can produce a better sound, Lukas at lamizator uses linux.
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