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Novice needs Mac Mini and DAC advice

Stereo Boys, I really really need some advice. In the past 18 months, I've loaded all in on this hobby and in that short time span have gone from birth to a full blown, fairly high end system and now I'm integrating a Mac Mini server into the mix. My mind is blown with too much information and I'm losing it over which DAC will give me the best bang with a budget anywhere from $800 to $4000. I'm told that the Ayre and Wavelength don't really outperform the lower cost DACs by a huge margin. I need a shot of the truth. And I'm looking for plug and play. I'm not that conversant with all the technical science involved in all of this. I just want a clean, high res sound. Please help!!
moonshot

Showing 5 responses by jdodmead

jdodmead
257 posts
 
Thank you Steve, I was able to install Remote and it works exactly like I was wanting. Baby steps, now I have to work on the memory, dac and media player. Something's wrong with the Amarra site right now, I will check again tomorrow.
Thanks
Jeff
jdodmead
257 posts
 
I just bought a Mac Mini and an Ipad, because of this and numerous other threads. My Mini only has usb, but I have 12 gig of memory. I tried the Splashtop app to try and go headless, but when I play something off itunes, the music comes through the Ipad instead of through the stereo. I am currently using the hdmi out to an Anthem AVM-50 until I get a usb dac(still searching)
I have 3 questions
Should I be using something different than Itunes to manage my music?(ripping and playback)
Should I be getting external memory to store all the music on to start with?(I have approx. 1,000 cd's)
What's the best app to operate headless? I'm in the same room and the same network, just don't want to continue using my plasma for a monitor.
I'm Mac and Computer Audio stupid, so be easy on me.
Thanks
Jeff
jdodmead
257 posts
 
Thank you Steve, I was able to install Remote and it works exactly like I was wanting. Baby steps, now I have to work on the memory, dac and media player. Something's wrong with the Amarra site right now, I will check again tomorrow.
Thanks
Jeff
jdodmead
257 posts
 
I must be doing something wrong with Splashtop. I can pull up my Mini desktop on my Ipad, but when I play music it streams to the Ipad and doesn't play from the Mini to my processor.
jdodmead
257 posts
 
I've made a lot of progress, Splashtop is fixed.
I have a Wyred4Sound dac2 on it's way to me, I set up a Buffalo 2 drive RAID and I installed XLD for ripping. I've been ripping a few discs today, but on playback I have some skipping and I don't know why. Is it the external drive, the ripping software or did I mess something up? I am ripping AIFF, I tried FLAC, but that won't go into ITunes, should I be using another format? I'm so close to being there, I just need to clean up some things and it would be nice to be able to talk to someone with more experience.
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