Yes - only dual core?!? I shall be staying with my Quad core i7 Mac Mini, even if it lacks 2x Thunderbolt.
The lack of new Intel Chips (Broadwell) is causing a few people issues [& don't start me on their Zeon's].
Rik
(17-Oct-2014, 10:11)rik Wrote: [ -> ]Yes - only dual core?!? I shall be staying with my Quad core i7 Mac Mini, even if it lacks 2x Thunderbolt.
The lack of new Intel Chips (Broadwell) is causing a few people issues [& don't start me on their Zeon's].
Rik
I was also surprised that they're only offering dual core though for music streaming this won't (shouldn't) be an issue. I presume they're just trying to differentiate further between the Mac mini and Mac Pro.
The name 'Mini' now seems to be 'mini' on the Store.
A big plus is that you can now spec up to 1TB of SSD internally which should hold well over a 1000 ripped CDs. Having no moving parts is great.
That's true.
I've put a small SSD in my (music) Mac Mini & store all the iTunes music on my other Mac (Also a Mini) which has a large external RAID array attached.
But you are right, a new Mac Mini + 1Tb SSD would make an excellent stand alone music server (controlled by the Remote app on a iPad or iPhone).
Rik
(17-Oct-2014, 10:45)rik Wrote: [ -> ]That's true.
I've put a small SSD in my (music) Mac Mini & store all the iTunes music on my other Mac (Also a Mini) which has a large external RAID array attached.
But you are right, a new Mac Mini + 1Tb SSD would make an excellent stand alone music server (controlled by the Remote app on a iPad or iPhone).
Rik
Hi Rik'
Just interested whether the SSD had any impact on the sound quality? I currently hold all my music on a 2TB HDD, Wyred4Sound (W4S) Music Server which works well playing direct, via USB, into my D400. W4S are now offering a SSD upgrade to the Music Server and I am wondering whether to go ahead and have the upgrade done. I can understand the potential +ve attributes of SSDs in that they have no moving or mechanical parts and feature flash-based memory, give superior shock resistance, a supposed reliability increase over HDDs. They should also give almost instantaneous data access, quicker boot ups and faster file transfers compared with HDD and the big plus to me, be much quieter than HDDs. I have not experienced the use of SSD as a music store, or music server, so have no idea as to it's impact on sound quality - logic should dictate that it should be all +ve given that they are electrically quieter, faster and not subject to shock.
Welcome input from all who have experience of going from HDD to SSD Servers.
David
(17-Oct-2014, 10:45)rik Wrote: [ -> ].
But you are right, a new Mac Mini + 1Tb SSD would make an excellent stand alone music server (controlled by the Remote app on a iPad or iPhone).
When I spoke to Thierry at the Guildford Audio show he mentioned that the best setup for AIR was still a mac mini running iTunes (which I've never tried). Perhaps we should have all followed this advice rather than faffing around with windows PCs, stand-alone streamers and the like... I might have saved myself a small fortune
Oh he also told me that running A+ on my Mac was not bit-perfect. Only iTunes on a Mac can output bit-perfect via AIR.
Guillaume
Yes.
You have to take care.
As you rightly say Dev' have integrated AIR into iTunes so you will only get bit-perfect via AIR if you use iTunes.
Also if you are using USB then you need to install an app such as "BitPerfect" which works with iTunes to ensure that it doesn't pop-back to 16/44 when playing high re audio files.
Rik
I can feel a new topic coming on.
"A Simple guide to getting the best out of your Dev' with a Mac Mini"
Rik
They told me that JRiver WASAPI was bit perfect via AIR???!!.......
They told me Santa Clause was real???!!...........
:-)
Sorry,
Rik
(17-Oct-2014, 12:58)rik Wrote: [ -> ]They told me Santa Clause was real???!!...........
:-)
Sorry,
Rik
Maybe he'll bring me a Mac Mini?
(17-Oct-2014, 11:15)GuillaumeB Wrote: [ -> ]Oh he also told me that running A+ on my Mac was not bit-perfect. Only iTunes on a Mac can output bit-perfect via AIR.
That's interesting. It does provide a concrete reason for heard differences between Audirvana and iTunes (not that iTunes is consistently deemed "better", I recall).