Novice needs Mac Mini and DAC advice

All right, Grannyring! Thanks for the kind consideration and time you spent laying all that out for. It is much appreciated. Now just give me the time to go over that one more time.

I just bought my mini and haven't set it up yet. I sort of inherited a Musical Fidelity M1 Async and haven't even plugged it in yet. My assumption was that it simply wasn't all that good but... like I said, I'm feeling my way. Maybe what I need to do is get the system up and running, play with it and learn my way around in the dark.

Honestly, and I think like a lot more people than would be willing to admit, all this technology is new to me and a bit confusing and it can be a bit intimidating to read the complex configurations and nearly logrythmic details that some people go into.

I just want it to sound good.

Oh, Rhanson 739 (Rob). No. I'm not that Moonshot. I'm Apollo 13.

Oh, my pleasure! I hope it helped.

And, being in camera sales, trust me, I understand how daunting and overwhelming it can be going in with little to no knowledge, and being overwhelmed and even intimidated by the atmosphere, the choices, the sales people. I get it from customers a lot. But, customers know more than they think. So, I usually ask them two questions to get started.

1. What is your price point?
2. What features are you looking for?

Number one is most important. That the one where I won't even show a customer a camera unless they give me a slightly specific idea of that. Too many times, a customer has said 'I want a really good camera!', so I'll pull down a 600 dollar Canon Rebel, and tell them the price, and they reply in horror 'I can't afford that!'. Now, they get to leave, feeling that anything I show them from that point on, no matter how good, is a consolation prize.

Number two is almost as important. What features do you want. Obviously 'good sound' is the main one, like 'good photos' would be for anyone buying a camera, but aside from that, you mentioned built in volume control. Do you want balanced outputs? Do you need multiple inputs for other digital sources? How high a sample rate do you want? 24/96 enough, or do you need 24/192? Does DSD playback matter much to you?

Number two should be more a priority list, rather than a check list. You might give up a feature or two that might be 'kinda cool' to have, in the name of more performance, or preferential sound.

Then, just start hitting your local brick and mortars, bring a good mix cd of your own music...he'll, bring a laptop with your music on it, tell them your price point, what features you really need, then listen. Any salesman who actually knows how to sell will keep you within 25% of your budget, be gracious with their time and knowledge, and not make you feel like they're slumming it with you because 1500 or 2000 is your budget. If they do, or spout nonsense like 'well, to get really good, you need to spend (insert much larger number than you want to spend here), just leave. They're idiots, and not representing their moderately priced gear with the enthusiasm it deserves.

Honestly, though, most will be happy to help and keep you within the ballpark of your budget.

Aside from that, have fun, go with what sounds best to your ears with the music you like, and take it home, plug it in, and just start enjoying it.

Let us know what you end up with, and how it turns out for you!

Jason

Hey Moonshot. I feel ya!

My one general piece of advice is to ask yourself every once and awhile: IF I HAD TO STOP NOW, WOULD I BE HAPPY? If the answer is YES or I THINK SO, then, Pencils down. You're done. The level to which you can tweak and optimize computer audio is going to be limitless. Because the rate at which PC technology evolves is limitless. High end audio is becoming more subject to Moore's Law, which has every audio company licking their chops to build DACs and other computer audio devices. Just as computers become redundant after 3 years, the thing to get music off those computers will also become redundant. So just remember to relax and enjoy the music.

Three other things:

* What you get out of your DAC is also dependent on the rest of the chain. If you don't have a system that's capable of picking up what your DAC is putting down, then spending a lot of dough doesn't make sense. I agree with advice you've been given that the higher priced you go the more nuanced/smaller the differences get. But that can be said for a lot of things in high end audio. I have the Ayre DAC, and to my ears, I couldn't do better without tripling the budget. And in that price range, there are many other audio things I'd rather put money into.

* What kind of files you have are important. If you have large number of lossy files, then that's going to play into your choice. Some DACs are not kind to crappy files.

* To that end, I would take a serious look at the Peachtree Audio stuff. For the money I preferred their sound over the Musical Fidelity DAC.

Jason and Banhamcopeland, you guys are on the money. Firstoff, I can't believe that you'd have the inclination to take so much time and share your experience to a total stranger. I just came to AudiogoN about a year and a half ago when I first loaded back into music. I used to be a rock jock in Seattle for about 20 years and burned out on the whole thing until my brother bought a pair of Martin Logan Summit's, and although they're not for everyone because of dispersion issues, I loaded in and through a huge growth spurt have got a fairly decent system running CLX's, Descent i subs through MC601's etc. etc. etc. I'm not going to bore you. But this entire system was purchased through AudiogoN contacts. Now the really unbelievable part - I JUST BOUGHT MY FIRST COMPUTER 2 YEARS AGO. I was totally computer illiterate. I just missed the whole revolution. So I went Apple and the learning curve has been fascinating and it was on my own, just thinking the whole process through, that I decided to use a Mac mini as a server. I did not even know that others favored that modality. That's how off the beaten track my experience and social contact was in terms of this technology; so, I was astounted when I started looking at the Forum and learning that an entire civilization of Mac mini music servers were out there. Honestly, I thought it was my idea, if you can believe that. So, at least I was headed down the right road. But this is now where I stand. I'm all loaded up on iTunes and ready to plug in, but I want to make sure I do it right.

Hey, I'm humbly sharing this because in rereading this disclosure, I sound like I could be some kind of idiot (and maybe I am) but I'm not going to take another step forward until I get the next series of decision spot on. For example, thanks to Maplegrovemusic I read with fascination the evolution of the Tranquility series and like the fact that there is a dedicated group of engineers at an apparently small company trying to get it right and evolving and moreso, that there's someone at the other end I can dialogue with. I'm really (excuse my language) beginning to feel like tossing chunks every time I read these inane glossy reviews that "rah-rah" products. The forum through this link has lead me in some fairly interesting directions.

Now, as part of this process, I've got to learn what music player to load, obviously what DAC to purchase, if the cables make a real difference (I hate Voodoo - in fact I find myself laughing at the extreme tweakers) and now I'm a bit confused because I'm seeing all kinds of devices in the chain between the DAC and my preamp (McIntosh C2300). What next do I have to learn. Hey, I'm hoping to plug my mini into my new and be done but... what's next?

Your comments about a good salesman and the proper sales process was written like something that should be emblazoned in every store. I loved it. I wish you were in my town, because I'd buy you dinner, and then I'd buy a camera even though I don't need on.

Thanks you guys. I really think that you guys are dead on.

-Bob