Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup

A Mac Mini with the Uptone Audio board mod to 12V DC is worth the effort for sure. Then add SSD, more memory and power it from a decent LPS. Take out everything that is not needed, turn all software off that is not required. Turn off Bliuetooth and screen share it via a router. I use Audirvana+ latest version in Direct / Asnyc mode.
Coonect it to your DAC viua Ethernet, don’t use USB it is terrible as an audio medium. I use a Rednet 3 and it sound incredible, bears any CDP I have tried (at any price).

the 2014-on mini's can output higher bit rates


whatever you do, be sure to do a blind test and if you hear no difference be sure you can return the replacement

I'd expect that there are several other areas that will make a much greater SQ improvement, likely suspects include:

speakers; room interface
better recorded source material
MQA
DEQX
DAC

You may wish to consider the Small Green Computer's SonicTransporter as a replacement for your Mac-based computer configuration scenarios. This work as a very flexible (audio) purpose build LINUX based computer for the application described. It is setup to work easily & seamlessly via web interface with the microRendu (these can be purchased as a pair from Small Green Computers). It can be configured with large amounts of solid sate storage (built-in) and USB drives can be attached to it directly to access your existing disk-based music libraries. Starting price for a smallest configuration is <$400.
I am using this configuration (SonicTransporter i5/microRendu)  with a 10 TB Synology NAS on a dedicated switched Gigabit network.
BTW, according to the Sonore website and my own experiments, an optical network does not work well with the microRendu.

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.

Hey @jond  - glad to return a favor.

@ghosthouse Thanks for the heads up on the CA review, it's quite well done and informative.

@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.  

@ghosthouse  Yes, you should still get a clearly audible improvement with a good LPS whether the booster, the Aurelic one that comes with the higher priced Aries or one of many others. The Aries threads on computer audiophile discuss LPS comparisons. 

iTunes doesn't imbed art into each song file. If you bought any music from iTunes store it will be missing art when you look in Lightning or any other software that isn't iTunes. Doug's Scripts has a cheap (~$5) download that will help imbed the art. I use the Mac software Yate which is flexible nice tag editing software. You should still be able to use your mac and find the Seagate drive on your network to edit metatags of music stored there. Cheers,
Spencer

Okay, jond.  So you too are running the Aries Mini into an external DAC and still hear a benefit with an LPS.  Good to know.  That Sbooster looks like it might be  better constructed than the Auralic LPS based on some photos I saw.  Thanks yet again.

@ghosthouse Glad to hear it's working out for you and glad to help! Not sure about the album art I am a moron when it comes to metadata and all that stuff but I would say between 80-90% of  my albums have are on the DS app. On the subject of power supply upgrade, I run my Aries out to a Yamamoto YDA-1 DAC and I do feel the power supply upgrade on the Aries made a difference. I am using the Sbooster and not the official Aries Linear supply. Cheers!

For anyone interested, I’ve been listening to ALAC files ripped to an external Seagate 2TB hard drive connected via USB cable to the Aries Mini.  USB out from the Aries is to a VLink 192 USB/SPDIF converter (it does NOT up sample signal from the Aries) and then via Stereovox coax to a Schiit Gungnir DAC. Still running the stock switch mode power supply supplied with the Aries.

VERY pleased with the sound and tickled I no longer have to use my MacBook air OR run a long USB cable from my MacBook Air to the V-Link OR plug in the hard drive every time I want to listen to ripped music files. The Aries Lightning app on my iPhone is FAST and the set up guide easy to follow. It read the 400 albums on my hard drive in maybe a minute. Can I say with 100% certainty the sound is better than it was from the MacBook Air running BitPerfect? My aural memory is not great and I haven’t gone back to do direct A/B listening comparisons since getting the Aries. Just been enjoying the music. The sound is certainly not worse and for convenience alone I ain’t likely to be going back BUT I will do a comparison soon now that the Aries has some hours on it and since I’m starting to get closer to the 30 day return deadline.

I’m able to use Airplay to stream Spotify wirelessly from my iPhone to the Aries. That’s pretty neat. Haven’t yet activated the 1 year Tidal subscription that is part of the Aries Mini purchase.

The only glitch compared to running BitPerfect/iTunes on the MacBook Air is that not ALL album art is represented. Some albums did populate. Others not. I contacted Aries tech support (they are very responsive via email) about this but am not sure I understand their explanation. It MIGHT be that where album art was downloaded off the web it must have the same name as the actual album for Aries to link the two. I did not always save album art images with the exact same title as the album, so might need to go back and see if editing those file names helps.

Am VERY curious about the benefit of a Linear Power Supply BUT since I’m not using the Aries internal DAC am uncertain whether it will make any difference. Anyone with experience on that, please advise.

Considering I was looking at a new MAC Mini + wireless keyboard and mouse for dedicated music playback use, the Aries Mini is, for me, a lower cost and more elegant solution with what might be better sound. I think Aries has done a really good job with their software and the features provided with the Aries Mini. Thanks for the suggestions here and especially to jond.

Dctom, this doesn't make sense. An ssd by itself will not improve the sound, all it will do is read the music faster. Most good software will read the music into ram and play the song from ram, not from a hdd/ssd.
If you went with Linux instead of using OS X, then you would also have to change the software you are using to read the music, now this could have a bearing on the quality of the sound, but just an OS change will not bring you a huge increase.

Hi GIC,

I wrote a blog about it actually. The short answer is, you use Ubuntu with Logitech Media Server.  The complementary Android app I use is Squeezer but I believe there are others as well.

 http://inatinear.blogspot.com/2016/08/ubuntu-mytek-brooklyn-dsd-setup-guide.html

Best!

Erik

Thanks again all,

Has anyone here directly compared the MicroRendu to the PS Audio bridge 2 or the PS Audio LANRover?
i know they are not exactly direct functionality-wise competitors, but all are valid Mac-to-DAC paths that I would like to explore.
FYI- PS audio offer 30 day return "buy and try-at-home" option. 
Do you know if MicroRendu offers something similar?
It will be an interesting tri-audition.

Ami

@erik_squires 

"For around $600 you could build a very nice Linux based music server with Android and iPhone app support and 2 TB of storage. "

Could you please expound a bit on the android apps (which apps) and how one would use them with linux?

Thanks 

I found the most  improvement in my, quite old mac mini (approx 8yr), was to replace the hd with a ssd loaded with linux. the sound quality was probably 25% better. Subjective I know - however I compared it directly with the dell lap top I previously used, which has been on a par with the original mac mini, no contest.

I have a mac mini running roon server, files on external hard drive, roon database and os on SSD with a microrendu.
The setup is straight forward, plug the cat5 connection into your router / network, usb output to your dac and you tell the roon server that the microrendu is the output device.
Full info here:- http://www.sonore.us/microRendu.html 
The device can also be set up using other protocols, I have had mine for a short while and I am delighted with it, hasn't missed a beat.
I have in the past used a Naim NDS setup and Aurender S10, I would have to say this little box of tricks gives them a hell of a run for their money.
In the UK they are just over £600.00 if you live in the US they are around $600.00 which makes them a real bargin.
I was a bit sceptical as there is a bit of hype surrounding these but I am not aware of another device that can have such an impact at this price point.
For the record I would consider myself a voracious consumer of audio equipment!
Matthew Lewis

@sbank Spencer I have not compared ethernet to wifi, my modem is in my office it would be about a 30 foot run of cable to wire up the Aries which to me sort of defeats the purpose of its functionality. My Synology NAS is hardwired to the modem/router via ethernet. I am very pleased with the sound quality via wifi it compares very well to cd's through my same DAC both my ripped files, flacs, and Tidal.
Cheers,
Jon

@jond Have you compared wifi to ethernet using the Aries Mini? With many devices, wifi degrades the sound quality. If wiring is inconvenient, some have reported good results using adapters that pass the signal over your home's copper electrical wiring from the router to the streamer. Just a thought...Cheers,
Spencer 

@ghosthouse there are only two wireless bands available to everyone 3.4ghz and 5ghz the 3.4 is the "legacy" network so to speak and carries much more traffic. Not all devices are 5ghz compatible but the Aries is as is your iphone. When you look for your 5ghz network it will be the same name as your regular network with the number 5 after, my network is called JamNet, so it's JamNet5, pretty simple.

Thanks @jond 

Should be here later today for Saturday.  

I take it 5 ghz is a wireless channel choice in the set up menu?  I will look for that option and keep your recommendation in mind.  

Later.

@ghosthouse  congrats! Setup was very easy should not take long at all plus Auralic has a good support staff who answered a few questions I had quickly. It sounds fine with the stock power supply, one thing I would recommend run it on the 5ghz band, that's what I do and have not had a single dropout since setting it up. I can't remember how long it took to import and index my library but I feel like it was much quicker than Sonos which I had before the Aries. Happy listening!

Gents - FWIW, have ordered the Aries Mini.  Hoping set up is not too problematic.  Downloaded Lightning DS to my iPhone.  Plan to the feed ALAC files to the Aries from a an external powered USB Hard Drive and output via Coax to my Gungnir.  A bit anxious about set up and time to index the hard drive files.  Going to live with the stock power supply a while before any move towards a PSU upgrade.  

@sbank Great looking room and system thanks for sharing and love the title! That's some badass looking power supply you have for the microRendu, similarly the Sbooster dwarfs the little Aries 10x5x3 and 4 pounds where the Aries is like two cd's stacked.

@jond Yes, I have the microRendu USB output connected directly to the USB input on the back of my Schiit Gungnir Multibit, with the hard adapter that is included with purchase. You can see pic on my system page. It's smaller than a deck of cards. 
Heard good things about Sbooster psu, but haven't heard it myself. Cheers, 
Spencer 

@sbank do you output the Sonore to a DAC? Looks like the output is USB only. I had my DAC, Yamamoto YDA-1, before I had a streamer so needed something with an RCA spdif output. I've added the Sbooster power supply to the Aries, $370 from Acoustic Sounds. That combo Sbooster/Aries/Yammie DAC sounds great to me and just as importantly has been glitch free.

In dbtom’s defense, his comments were on the mark relative to the OP’s inquiry.

(not that he needs my defense)

@sbank

This stuff is discussed in gory detail daily on a computer audiophile related forum that you should all read before recommending ten year old computing solutions. This stuff has changed too fast!

Guilty as charged. Excuses stifled. Heck, in my eagerness to share I sometimes fail to read (or reread) the whole thread. :)

@ryriken66  To switch to A+ without iTunes, you don't need to download anything else. There is a mention option to toggle. The mode using iTunes is called INTEGRATED. You just need to toggle that off. If you don't like their database, you can just as easily toggle back.
Word of caution, many switch then complain about loss of artwork. That's because music ripped/dowloaded via iTunes doesn't imbed art in each track, it keeps it in a separate file. This format is different than A+ and most other software, so you have to add artwork to each song's file if it's missing. Search archives for Dougscripts and/or Yate tag editor for help fixing missing art. Cheers,
Spencer

Wow look away for a day and now I feel obligated to reply to  many posts in this thread! 

First, thanks to @rbstehno for a couple of well informed great posts.

Let me say that from my firsthand experience is based on using MacMini, Audirvana+, (as well as Amarra & Pure Music) Apple Remote for years. I had shootouts in my system with Aurelic Aries (not Aries Mini) including its linear power supply, other servers. I upgraded to Sonore microRendu & a linear power supply as streamer/renderer with my files stored on a Synology NAS in the next room. I run ethernet CAT6A cable to the Sonore(although you don't have to). I use Lumin app on iPad (or Android phone) for controlling the music. The improvement is TREMENDOUS!

IMHO, the advice to run a headless MacMini with internal or external harddrives, use iTunes (or Audirvana+) & Apple remote is good advice FIVE YEARS AGO, but not any longer. Sorry, but the disadvantages mentioned in a few posts are significant. Get the full purpose computer running a big mac O/S or Windows O/S out. Get the big noisy switching psu for the bigger computer out. Get any spinning discs out. Get optical isolation in. Use a single purpose computing solution( e.g microRendu, Aurelic, Aurender,  all running O/S with fewer processes. The mR also has optimized audio board with improved USB output which helps keep noise from getting to your DAC. This stuff is discussed in gory detail daily on a computer audiophile related forum that you should all read before recommending ten year old computing solutions. This stuff has changed too fast! 

Audirvana+ whether running atop iTunes or in its own mode(which sounds better, but introduces many painful database management issues) is not as user friendly as Lumin, Linn Kazoo or Aurelic's DS Lightning app. Library files get corrupted for many users and the fixes are painful; I've been there. 

The Aries Mini is a good product but needs a better power supply to perform at a high level. It's built in DAC is inferior to most audiophile DACS, but good for a starter system on a tight budget. The Aries at $1600 including a good LPS sounds excellent and is closer to the microRendu in sound quality IMHE. The Aurenders also sound good if you don't mind their cost.

As I posted last week, the  microRendu is incredible and only $650 + choice of power supple; it can stream Tidal, but you will want a NAS to store your own library. You won't need the mac at all unless you choose to use it for running HQ Player or similar to do DSD upsampling and/or EQ. Read the online reviews, especially Connaker's. It's a real Swiss Army knife! Cheers,
Spencer 

 

I have a Mac Mini with iTunes and Audiovana. How do you get rid of iTunes and just use the Audivana. Do I just buy the app from the iTunes Store. Thanks for any info or help. I'm using an iPad 2 to play music from its itune app.

Thanks for your thoughts everybody.

Other than replacing the Mac with some dedicated streamer, what in your opinion would be the best value upgrade if I want to keep using it?
:-)

rbstehno is correct, ideally you want your NAS drive or music server elsewhere, my NAS drive is in my office and I listen in my listening room. And that's interesting info on the Lumin app I may have to check that out. One thing about the Lightning DS app for me at least I thought it sounded better on Ipad then Iphone.  I didn't have an Ipad when I got the Aries originally but I was able to pick up an Ipad Mini for around $200 very cost effective and I just use it as a remote control.

Internal or external are the same in regards to noise in your audio room. You don't want any spinning disk in the same room you listen to music in. Buy either a NAS drive or mount the drive on another computer in another part of your home.
1 thing I should have mentioned is that I designed and implemented a switched Gb network that all routers and devices attach to. Very fast for both audio and video.
as far as the GUI goes, the Lumin and DS Lightning software is light years ahead of the Mac based audio programs. I was using the 1st release of audirvana on the iPad and it was crude but I knew it is a work in progress. I like the DS software better but Lumin sounds better. What's nice I can pick which 1 to use.
With audirvana, I got rid of iTunes and let audirvana control everything which sounded better.

@rbstehno 
Hi and thanks for that detailed history.  The Aries Mini does sound interesting.  My music is on a Western Digital powered external hard drive so I'm not tied to a device with internal drive to hold it.  

The good news now is that Auralic's control app can be downloaded to an iPhone.    

rbstehno - Running the Aries, do you miss the Audirvana software at all? Does the DS Lightning and now Lumin software provide similar functionality with the Aries?  OR are these simply control programs doing nothing to enhance the "bits to music" conversion process? Let me know please.  

Thanks to everyone for their input.

I had a really nice setup using my Mac mini with 16G of ram and using a 5TB NAS 100' away for my disk so you would not get any noise from the HDD's. I have used a few different programs to play my ripped music and I liked the sound of Audirvana 2.x the best without using iTunes in the background. I have a reclocker and the audioquest diamond USB cable feeding into my DAC and the MAC was optimized by turning off spotlight and time machine. This setup sounded better than my $3000 classe CD player. 6 months ago, I did some testing and ended up purchasing the Auralic Aries music player/streamer. What an improvement in sound and in the playback software to control what I'm playing. 
The Aries still needs some type of disk to hold all of your ripped music. So what I did was to take my Mac mini and turn it into an OSX server with 16TB of disk attached to it (10TB in a raid 1 configuration that I use for my music) and I installed minimserver that allows the Aries to connect. The Mac OS X server allows me to use this server for many other things besides surfacing music, it's a little work horse now.
The Aries also gives you streaming capabilities tidal and others and gives you access to 10,000 web radio stations in all genres. 
The Aries comes with the DS Lightning software for your iPad that you use to configure the Aries and also control what you want to listen to. Very nice! But I was playing around and started to use the Lumin iPad software to control the Aries and I think it actually sounds better than using the DS Lightning software. A new release of the DS software was just released and it promise to sound better than the prior release.
so what I'm trying to say is to look outside of using your Mac mini as a music server and look at products like the Auralic. IMO, don't get sucked into the players that contain internal hard disks, use your Mac mini OS X server to house all your hard disks and then take advantage of this server for all the other things it can do.

@ghosthouse yes it decodes all those files from a NAS.

@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. 

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.

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 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 

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. ;)

Good timing! @jond .  Auralic Aries Mini - that just might be the ticket.  Do you know whether I'd be able to play my ALAC formatted burned CDs direct from a 2TB Western Digital powered hard drive?  I see it supposed to be able to recognize ALAD, just not sure about the hard drive.  

I had looked previously at the Aries Mini but it required an iPad to support the Lightning control app.  I didn't want to spend for an iPad.  Now the app is available for an iPhone which I've got.  I just got off the Audio Advisor site (they carry the Aries Mini) before I saw your post.  

Thanks.  Let me know what you think about working with an external hard drive and sound quality.   I'll be very pleased if it works out.

@ghosthouse  I am using an Auralic Aries Mini streaming files from a Synology NAS no computer needed except an ipad or iphone for remote control. The Aries Mini is around $500 and I think I paid between $5-600 for my NAS that price including two 4TB drives, so say $1000-1200 total. And there are certainly other devices out there similar to the Aries, Sonos and Bluesound Node come to mind.

Hey, Erik - thanks.  I could have been clearer in my question.  I am NOT against computer-based playback at all, 'cept I keep hearing how dedicated/non-multipurpose music servers provide better sound than a general purpose computer.  I do appreciate that, at their heart, such music servers have a processor.  I really am enjoying music from audio files played back with support of the MacBook - just looking for a step up on the cheap and to save processor time on the MBA.  Wish I were more tech savvy and competent DIY-wise, I'd pursue your Linnux-based suggestion.  That's right in the price range I'm hoping for.

@ghosthouse
YES!

Why are you against computer based playback, exactly? I mean every single streamer is a computer.

For around $600 you could build a very nice Linux based music server with Android and iPhone app support and 2 TB of storage.

Best,

Erik