Best USB port on a late 2012 Mac mini

I use one and will not change. A 2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz machine with 16GB of RAM is an amazing music server when running dB Audio Labs software.

The USB port on the opposite end of the IEC power inlet is the one to use.

If you have not tried this simple, no cost SQ hack, do this:

listen to your favorite reference track.

shut the mini down and invert the polarity of the IEC C7 connector.

reboot and listen to that same track again without doing any system changes other than the PC polarity inversion.

report back with your findings.

other, no cost Mac mini tweaks may well be forthcoming if you all are interested.

What we don't know or understand about how to achieve the most gratifying musical enjoyment could fill a book.  Most of it doesn't make sense. It just IS.

I'll repeat no usb out of motherboards is optimal, usb renderers such as Innuos Phoenix or Uptone usbRegen will help, but doing thunderbolt to ethernet conversion and adding  FMC (otherwise known as optical conversion) and separate streamer (something like SOTM SMS200 or Sonore OpticalRendu) will be far superior to usb out, even with an added usb renderer. One can do the two FMC for less than $100, add the SOTM at $450 or used for less and have far superior sound than any usb port on mini.

Following link supplies directions and evaluations of this mod for minis, https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/