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ATTENTION Current Mac mini/A+ users: Boot Mavericks from an SD card, load a RAMdisk, dismount your internal SATA drives, and pour a drink for the musicians walking out of your speakers!


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Using the commands suggested on this page osx - Why would I disable swap file in Mac OS X? - Ask Different

I disabled the swap file, inspite of the mixed opinions mentioned, & it has made the system quite fast with absolutely no stability issues. Sounds much more cleaner & pleasing as well with better spacing between instruments & good instrument definition.

I, along with a few others, worked on a Windows based music server called cPlay, 2 years ago. The discussion took place in the digital section of Audio Asylum. Apart from the hardware mods like powering the motherboard from Linear power supplies, we individually powered the HDD, Soundcard & the Usb ports using their own linear power supplies, reduced cpu voltage using the Bios & completely ran the machine without the processor fan. Then we started to slim the OS by deleting DLL files & slimming the registry one by one & at the end of it, the entire windows OS came down to 12mb on the whole including the Software player. It was a very enthusiast project & we took it to a totally different league with the above.

When I heard about Amarra, around a year ago, I wanted to try it so I bought a Mac Mini & used it with my Wadia dac to use Amarra. It did not stand even 'close' to the cPlay machine we had tweaked.

Now after reading this thread & implementing the SD card tweak, things have totally changed. With all that has been mentioned in this thread, I'm sure a Mac mini can give a decent cd transport a run for its money. Thank u once again Superdad.

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I'm just trying this, through the small Onyx software in Yosemite, and I must admit I'm...astonished with the result. I wasn't waiting for anything, but there's really more space, clarity, impact (I think). I have to hear some more with this tip, but it seems to be very interesting.

 

Make sure you have at least 8Go Ram though (preferably 16Go), and also an SSD if possible, because swap and freezing is absolutely not what you want from your PC/Mac.

You can monitor this, and free Ram if needed with the small Memory Clean App (free in the Appstore).

Roon / audio-linux / dual PC / I2s FGPA Dac / analog tube processor / analog tube crossover / active speakers / dual subs / absorption+massive diffusion / ugly cat in the room

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Very interesting. I'll show my lack of OSX knowledge by asking 1) is this reversible? 2) if so what are the terminal commands to do so?

PS Audio P5 Power Plant>HQ Player Mac Book Pro BootCamp Win10>NAA Mac Mini BootCamp Win 10>REGEN Green>REGEN Amber>IFI iDSD Micro>BHSE>Stax SR-009

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Never mind. Found the answers to both questions.

 

 

How to enable/disable swapping in Mac OS X

 

To disable swap (pager daemon) run this command in Terminal:

 

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist

 

 

After stopping pager daemon, you may want to remove swapfiles by this command:

 

sudo rm /private/var/vm/swapfile*

 

To enable swap, you need to boot in Single Mode (Hold [CMD + S] at booting time) and run this command:

 

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist

PS Audio P5 Power Plant>HQ Player Mac Book Pro BootCamp Win10>NAA Mac Mini BootCamp Win 10>REGEN Green>REGEN Amber>IFI iDSD Micro>BHSE>Stax SR-009

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I'm just trying this, through the small Onyx software in Yosemite, and I must admit I'm...astonished with the result. I wasn't waiting for anything, but there's really more space, clarity, impact (I think). I have to hear some more with this tip, but it seems to be very interesting.

 

When swap was enabled, your computer wouldn’t have been actively swapping at all moments throughout the playback of audio files. If swap activity indeed does degrade sound quality, then that degradation should have been an intermittent effect occurring only at moments of swap activity, so I’m puzzled by swap disablement producing a wholesale improvement in sound quality instead of just preventing occasional moments of degradation.

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You're right.

It SHOULD make no difference, as it should also make no difference to load Audirvana+ in a Ramdisk, and some more...

I dn't know why it seems to improve audio, but you can easily try for yourself.

 

Onyx app can do this for you (it's free) , no need to use Terminal. It's even better, as the line command is not the same for Yosemite (it won't work with the command above from Lionelh2). You just have to use Onyx : System Info/Memory/unload Swap.

 

But don't do this if you have only 4Go Ram !! (much much safer with 16Go and an SSD for the OS)

Roon / audio-linux / dual PC / I2s FGPA Dac / analog tube processor / analog tube crossover / active speakers / dual subs / absorption+massive diffusion / ugly cat in the room

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Well. As mentioned before, I was actively involved in optimising the windows based cMp2 machine which we used as a music server running the cPlay software. We started optimising the OS system bloat by deleting unnecessary DLL files (windows drivers) which were of no use while running the machine for audio-only use. Then the subsequent entries of the deleted files were removed from registry to make the OS not look for those files & load them at start up. This made a huge improvement as the deletion process went by. At the final stage, we brought windows to a mere 12mb, which was just 3% of its original install size. We couldn't delete or modify any further as the files that were remained were the ones required by the OS & the player along with drivers for the necessary hardware

 

 

The sound changed drastically along the process, almost as good or even better than running the entire system & HDD's off the linear power supplies.

 

With absolutely no knowledge of windows or computers, we were able to attain that with a lot of trial & error. After deleting a set of files & re-booting, the system was backed up. If the system refused to boot due to removal of a wrong file, the previous back up was restored.

 

Again with absolutely zero knowledge about OSX, I'm sure that this can be attained as well. I guess the DLL files which are a part of windows, are in the form of 'kext' files here in Osx. And the 'Plist' files acts as the registry here where the system is directed as to what to load & what not to. I may be wrong, but a little reading on the subject turns out to be so.

 

Disabling the Swapfile was done by me as the first try, which I put my hand on while searching for the sleepimage file. There is where I saw the swapfile on the very same folder & gave it a try. Not only did it remove 1GB of data off the SD card, it made the system much more faster & the sonic improvement was easily obvious as I mention in my previous post.

So I don't see any reason so as to not expect any positive outcome from such a step, even further. Ofcourse, it is highly advised to back up the system once a modification has been done & the stability is verified.

 

Just my 2 cents.....

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That's cool. When I installed the OS on the SD card initially, my boot up time was around 150 secs.

After disabling & deleting the swapfile & Now deleting 5 other kext files pertaining to the firewire port (I don't use nor intend to use firewire devices anytime soon) namely

iofirewireavc.kext

iofirewireFamily.kext

iofirewireip.kext

iofirewireSbp2.kext

iofirewireSerialbusprotocolport.kext,

My boot up time now is 32 secs. The stage is very expansive with silky highs & is very pleasantly laid back. Removal of the above mentioned kexts has made the noise-floor drop even more & the bass quality is quite interesting. Overall I'm very very pleased with the above optimisations.

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Hi Jolida:

 

I like where you are going with some of these new OS X tweaks. I have a couple of questions and one request:

 

1) Are you performing these mods on a Mavericks or Yosemite install?

2) Are you already running the C.A.D. Optimization script and/or doing the usual menu of activity/process slim-down tweaks (including unloads of dozens of Launch Agents and Launch Daemons)?

3) If you run Activity Monitor, how many processes and threads does your machine idle down to? This is one of the best comparative gauges of slim-downs.

 

And for the request:

There are two ongoing threads here at CA for OS X tweaks.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/osx-optimisation-scratch-21952/

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/computer-audio-design-osx-audio-optimization-script-18128/

 

Could you move that part of your discussion over to one of these two threads? (Maybe even repost there a bit of what you have been talking about here.) There are people who subscribe to those threads who I am sure would like to try your suggestions and discuss in deeper detail. This sort of OS X tweaking is not new, but you are bringing a fresh pair of eyes to it.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

--Alex C.

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Hi Jolida:

 

I like where you are going with some of these new OS X tweaks. I have a couple of questions and one request:

 

1) Are you performing these mods on a Mavericks or Yosemite install?

2) Are you already running the C.A.D. Optimization script and/or doing the usual menu of activity/process slim-down tweaks (including unloads of dozens of Launch Agents and Launch Daemons)?

3) If you run Activity Monitor, how many processes and threads does your machine idle down to? This is one of the best comparative gauges of slim-downs.

 

And for the request:

There are two ongoing threads here at CA for OS X tweaks.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/osx-optimisation-scratch-21952/

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/computer-audio-design-osx-audio-optimization-script-18128/

 

Could you move that part of your discussion over to one of these two threads? (Maybe even repost there a bit of what you have been talking about here.) There are people who subscribe to those threads who I am sure would like to try your suggestions and discuss in deeper detail. This sort of OS X tweaking is not new, but you are bringing a fresh pair of eyes to it.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

--Alex C.

 

Hello Mr. Alex

Yes I am doing the above on my Mavericks install. I am running the CAD optimisation script as well, along with all that u have mentioned above.

I'm sorry I dint mean to hijack this thread, but I had no idea that this discussion is being made in another thread as well. This is the only thread I follow, as I had given up on computer based audio about a year ago.

It was just a week ago that I was casually browsing CA where I came across this thread & reluctantly gave it a try for one last time & it has made the most significant change in my system. Can't thank u enough for the same. Ever since I ran the OS off the SD card, loading the music into Ramdisk, the tables have turned. A true game-changer. Since then, my cd transport is biting the dust.

I will move the discussion to the above linked thread.

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Hello Mr. Alex

Yes I am doing the above on my Mavericks install. I am running the CAD optimisation script as well, along with all that u have mentioned above.

I'm sorry I dint mean to hijack this thread, but I had no idea that this discussion is being made in another thread as well. This is the only thread I follow, as I had given up on computer based audio about a year ago.

It was just a week ago that I was casually browsing CA where I came across this thread & reluctantly gave it a try for one last time & it has made the most significant change in my system. Can't thank u enough for the same. Ever since I ran the OS off the SD card, loading the music into Ramdisk, the tables have turned. A true game-changer. Since then, my cd transport is biting the dust.

I will move the discussion to the above linked thread.

 

That all sounds great and I am happy for you. If you have the chance to replace you laptop with a Mac mini for music machine (boot the same SD card), I think you will find even greater musical joy with the mini. I have done several fair comparisons between MBP, Air, and mini--and the laptops just never had the bass, depth, or musical life that mini does.

IMHO, YMMV, etc. :)

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Sorry, got you mixed up with "wwaldmanfan" who posted on the prior page. Have you torn the SMPS out of your mini yet? Big difference there, especially if you can get rid of the high-current PWM pulse control of the fan. Search and see what others have to say about that.

 

Oh Not yet. As I said, I've been into this since just around a week or so. Also, I currently do not have the pin-out/schematic of the power supply, to substitute with a linear. More than powering the mini off a LPS, I would want to look for a way to run it passively cooled, eliminating the fan altogether. The vibrations it produces mask a huge amount of improvement which the LPS or these tweaks produce. When I did that on my Windows based machine, it was an eye-opener. Ofcourse the machine had to be under-clocked to run it fan-less.

Experimenting with isolating the mini off the rack/table is another interesting topic. After trying various supports, from vibrapod to racing cones, to isonodes, I finally settled in for a sand-filled MDF tray floated atop an air bladder. But that's another story...

All in all, ur suggestion has brought my faith in computer audio all over again !

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Oh Not yet. As I said, I've been into this since just around a week or so. Also, I currently do not have the pin-out/schematic of the power supply, to substitute with a linear. More than powering the mini off a LPS, I would want to look for a way to run it passively cooled, eliminating the fan altogether. The vibrations it produces mask a huge amount of improvement which the LPS or these tweaks produce. When I did that on my Windows based machine, it was an eye-opener. ...

All in all, ur suggestion has brought my faith in computer audio all over again !

 

Welcome to the mostly Mac Mini community here! There are a lot of people who might want to comment on this, but since California is probably asleep I'll pitch in. I can't answer for Windows machines, but I did not find the mechanical vibration from the Mini fan to be a problem- it's the electrical noise.

 

The easiest mod of all which I did on 2010 and 2012 machines was to put in an external fan supply- almost anything will do for this. If you do that, it is so easy just to turn the fan OFF. It's neater to get a spare fan (very widely available) and butcher that for the external supply connections so you can go back, but in principle all you need to do is to snip the 4 wires and connect your own two. If you search for me on other threads you can find my labelling of the fan wiring connections- sorry I can't remember exactly where they are now, but PM me if you have any problem.

 

Keep an eye on temperatures (TemperatureMonitor or something like that), and turn the fan on again when you get uncomfortable with them, but I could run for half an hour and not get up to the temperatures which would have triggered an increase in fan speed in normal operation (the Apple fan control circuit is very insensitive). That should give you a good measure of what improvement you might get from passive cooling.

 

My ears are old and my system is moderate, so not in the league of Superdad's, for example. However, for what it's worth, I heard virtually no difference with fan on or off. This was with LPS, SSD, wi-fi removed, but before I discovered SDHD and Ramdisk.

 

In my experience ( and that of many others) the really major improvement came from a good LPS. Thereafter the main ones were external or MMK fan supply, and the Ramdisk operation, probably about equal.

 

If you really want to go for passive cooling, tranz has done it, but at the expense of tearing almost everything out of the mini case and putting all the bits into a new much bigger case. Alsterfan (I think) has an external fan system. There is a commercial outfit in the UK who will do it for you as part of their mods, but I've never seen (or felt...) that in operation.

 

Good luch with your own investigations!

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Alsterfan (I think) has an external fan system.

 

Hi BobL,

Just a small correction. Must have been somebody else you were thinking of. I am still using an iMac, waiting for nearly 1 year

(http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f22-networking-networked-audio-and-streaming/fanless-12%B4%B4-macbook-air-coming-soon-19993/)

for Apple to release a fanless Mac Book Air. As rumors go this might well happen in a few weeks:

Retina MacBook Air: Everything We Know | MacRumors

and that is what I want to try next.

Regards,

Uwe

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have you tried to reboot thereafter ? I've lost hours before I came to the conclusion that how little sense it makes, deleting mighty unrelated .kext prevents launch caches creations thus forcing me to redo my sd card....

 

 

of course the alternative view is that when I regained the capacity to launch from my sd card just after I put back in place the last .kext it was just by chance while my sd card would have erratic problems...

 

That's cool. When I installed the OS on the SD card initially, my boot up time was around 150 secs.

After disabling & deleting the swapfile & Now deleting 5 other kext files pertaining to the firewire port (I don't use nor intend to use firewire devices anytime soon) namely

iofirewireavc.kext

iofirewireFamily.kext

iofirewireip.kext

iofirewireSbp2.kext

iofirewireSerialbusprotocolport.kext,

My boot up time now is 32 secs. The stage is very expansive with silky highs & is very pleasantly laid back. Removal of the above mentioned kexts has made the noise-floor drop even more & the bass quality is quite interesting. Overall I'm very very pleased with the above optimisations.

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have you tried to reboot thereafter ? I've lost hours before I came to the conclusion that how little sense it makes, deleting mighty unrelated .kext prevents launch caches creations thus forcing me to redo my sd card....

 

 

of course the alternative view is that when I regained the capacity to launch from my sd card just after I put back in place the last .kext it was just by chance while my sd card would have erratic problems...

 

Jolida: It is true that you must be careful. Le Concombre Masqué has many scars and probably hundreds of lost hours from OS X tweaking battles. As does Alsterfan, Tranz, and a few others here. ;) Me, I had to cool it on OS X tweaking the past 6 months as I've just been too busy and it can get tedious and frustrating. Since I got down to 70 active processes I have been pretty happy. From there to 50 is a struggle (though I do have a growing text file with all of Uwe's and others' work archived for when I dive in again--especially for Yosemite).

 

See you guys…

 

--Alex

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have you tried to reboot thereafter ?

 

Hi Le Concombre Masqué,

I can say that after having deleted the above mentioned .kext files my SD card is still working properly, though in my case boot time has not improved at all.

As it is too late in Germany I cannot comment on probable SQ changes right now.

 

Regards,

Uwe

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