Novice needs Mac Mini and DAC advice

Backgroundblur: Good. I'm there. I think I'm going to quit whining and start winning. Many good DACs mentioned in this thread alone so I'll explore with enthusiasm and look at this challenge as a fun thing.

I really feel a fundamental shift into the comfort zone after the support and great advice offered through all the generous words by all of you. It literally blows my mind that total strangers would take the time to share from their real world experiences... and care.

Thanks you all so much. I feel like you all have done a lot of my due diligence for me and given me the benefit of your learning curve. The rest is up to me...and this bird will fly.

- Bob.

"External power supply as well?"

Absolutely

"Concerning jitter, isn't that the DAC's responsibility to reclock or do you really need the reclocker buffered in between the source and the DAC?"

That would be nice in an ideal world. You need some kind of reclocker or external USB converter. No DAC does a complete job of reducing jitter. The ones that come close don't have great clocks in them anyway, so you are stuck with that SQ. I have auditioned and modded dozens of DACs for customers in the last 10 years.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I'm loving my Metrum Octave. At around $1,150 it's an absolute steal IMO. Beat my Weiss Minerva at 1/5th the cost.

I'll second the Metrum Octave. Drive it with a low-jitter source though.

the Metrum Hex iseven better BTW

The W4S DAC2 is also fabulous,but driven with I2S input.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

So Moonshot, which Bob from Seattle radio are you? I grew up here listening to all the Rock stations and not too many of the Jocks are still around. Hope your doing well in whatever you're doing now, radio seems like a hard core business to me.

Oh, and you are going in the right direction with a macmini and good dac. I'm currently using a M2tech Hiface Evo for conversion into my Havana Dac. It's a wonderful sounding dac that has gotten rave reviews over the last few years. I just ordered the Metrum Octave which has also gotten tons of good press. They are selling them from the factory right now for several hundred dollars under the going rate of $1100.00 dollars until they are gone because the new model just came out. Check out the reviews on this site and others. You have gotten some really good advice on this thread, but the main thing is to enjoy the music and keep rockin.

Take Care,

Greg