Mac Mini vs. CDP?

A fellow Goner emailed me to make me aware that the Amarra software is buggy from his experience with the Mac Mini. When it comes time to make a software purchase I will likely go with some other software like Puremusic to improve the performance of the Mac Mini.

Robbob - I tunes does not rip bit perfect - even with error correction on. Use program like MAX (free) with "do not allow to skip" option set ON. It refuses or takes very long time (reading same sector multiple times until right checksum is obtained) ripping some CDs that Itunes rips fast (In general, scratches along the CD up to 4mm are error corrected but between 4-8mm are interpolated). On the other hand CDP cannot go many times over the same sector, operating in real time.

I would suspect that what you call lifeless sounding can be in reality cleaner sounding. Sound with very small amount of noise or distortion always appears livelier and more dynamic (like distorted guitar to clean Jazz guitar at the same volume). I enjoy very much clean sound of my MacMini to jitter suppressing Benchmark DAC1, while others call it lifeless, sterile, analytical. There is no right or wrong here but it my case I did not enjoy it at first - have learned to listen (I guess).

I use a Resolution Audio Cantata with a Mach 2 Mac Mini, Pure Music, and a Cardas Clear USB cable and can't hear a difference between a cd and the Mac Mini. I do hear a difference when playing 96/24 files. Flac, .wav, and aiff files sound the best. I have found that the little things make a big difference in computer based audio. A powered hard drive, the USB port used, enough memory, etc.

Thanks for all the answers and comments.

I'm about to add memory and possibly try some hi res stuff.

Rob

Probably no hard fast answer to your question, but I'll offer my opinions. I suggest you read some of the "setting up a computer for audio" articles by the various manufacturers and/or audio mags. Ayre has some good info on their web site. You don't want the computer doing a lot of other stuff while it is playing music. Spring for one of the software packages that bypass i-tunes processing. I've tried Decibel, Pure Music and Amarra. They range widely in cost and feature set, but all sound a lot better than just i-tunes to me and all have "free trial". I'm not familiar with the Rega DAC, but unless it is optimized for USB use (like the Ayre QB-9), it is quite possible the other digital inputs will sound better. I'm guessing there are some reviews for your DAC out there that discuss this. With the Mac you also have an option to try Firewire - a better interface for music in most cases - if your DAC is compatible. I am currently running Pure Music and Firewire to a Metric Halo LIO-8, and it is by far the best digital ever in my house - although I never had a megabuck CD player for comparison. It certainly blows any of the mid-price stuff I've had from Cambridge or Cairn out of the water. Good luck, be patient, and experiment. Computer audio is almost as fussy as vinyl, but the results can be quite gratifying and the experiments generally cost a lot less than the vinyl equivalent.

mbhintz