Music Server offering a significant upgrade over a Mac Mini?

[rruffin]

2 hours ago, franz159 said:

 

• In case of SPDIF I would go for the Allo DigiOne 
  • https://allo.com/sparky/digione.html
• In case you need i2s out, admittedly it gets more complicated, but I would experiment directly with the Audio GD i2s output board
  • https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/diy-interfaces/audio-gd-diy-kit-i2s-to-hdmi-output-module-p-9347.html
• In any case a good starting point is galvanic isolation for i2s/i2c output
  • https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/tree/master/IsolatorPi
    or
  • https://allo.com/sparky/isolator.html
• another option is re-clocking
  • https://allo.com/sparky/kali-reclocker.html

 

 

On my first few day with the Allo DigiOne (Volumio software and iFi iPower power supply) connected a 2009 MBP running Audirvana. Really enjoying the sound (silent black background, deep soundstage, richly grounded bass. Was in a similar quandary as Firewall416 - enjoying the sound of a MBP/SSD running Audirvana with usb-s/pdif device (hiface modified by jkenny running off a 9 volt battery). Started to wonder if I could improve things after reading the DAR review of the DigiOne. Like all audio stuff, the sound keeps changing through break in, but I am happily impressed. Not so happy with Volumio software (as it takes control of volume level functions from Audirvana) and intend to try other software. Even Allo sent a coupon for a free copy of Max2Play. Audrivana works well with UPnp and even sends the upsampling and filter settings to DigiOne, so I am not losing those features. Under $200 for DigiOne player and the cost of a router...

[zackthedog]

2 hours ago, rruffin said:

On my first few day with the Allo DigiOne (Volumio software and iFi iPower power supply) connected a 2009 MBP running Audirvana. Really enjoying the sound (silent black background, deep soundstage, richly grounded bass. Was in a similar quandary as Firewall416 - enjoying the sound of a MBP/SSD running Audirvana with usb-s/pdif device (hiface modified by jkenny running off a 9 volt battery). Started to wonder if I could improve things after reading the DAR review of the DigiOne. Like all audio stuff, the sound keeps changing through break in, but I am happily impressed. Not so happy with Volumio software (as it takes control of volume level functions from Audirvana) and intend to try other software. Even Allo sent a coupon for a free copy of Max2Play. Audrivana works well with UPnp and even sends the upsampling and filter settings to DigiOne, so I am not losing those features. Under $200 for DigiOne player and the cost of a router...

 

You can disable the volume control in Volumio.  Don't if that would leave Audirvana volume control intact, I've never tried it.

[SoundSparks]

Any feedback on using Melco vs. Aurender?

Can either one be connected directly to DAC via Ethernet?

[rruffin]

On December 26, 2017 at 5:13 PM, zackthedog said:

 

You can disable the volume control in Volumio.  Don't if that would leave Audirvana volume control intact, I've never tried it.

Never figured out how to do that. How? Right now, Volumio is my best solution as I can at least control the volume. My other problem has to do with loud pops when the dac is changing resolutions. Can't find any way to mute the signal when changing tracks. Got any ideas about that? Thanks!

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, rruffin said:

Never figured out how to do that. How? Right now, Volumio is my best solution as I can at least control the volume. My other problem has to do with loud pops when the dac is changing resolutions. Can't find any way to mute the signal when changing tracks. Got any ideas about that? Thanks!

 

It's in the audio settings, but it may be that disabling volume (which basically sets MPD to no mixer control) also disables your player volume.

 

For pops between tracks, see here:

 

https://volumio.org/forum/pop-between-tracks-t5794.html

[steklo]

On 26.12.2017 at 6:24 PM, nbpf said:

Thanks! I am currently comparing the Allo DigiOne to my current setup (a fitPC3 connected to an M2Tech hiFace Evo, both on Teddy Pardo linear power supplies), to the Schiit Eitr and to the Mutec MC-3+ USB. I should be able to post my findings in a couple of days.

Hi nbpf,

how are your findings concerning Allo DigiOne in comparison to your current setup with Schiit Eitr / Mutec MC-3+USB / M2Tech hiface EVO?

Best regards

Stefan

[rruffin]

13 hours ago, zackthedog said:

 

It's in the audio settings, but it may be that disabling volume (which basically sets MPD to no mixer control) also disables your player volume.

 

For pops between tracks, see here:

 

https://volumio.org/forum/pop-between-tracks-t5794.html

Thanks...

[nbpf]

8 hours ago, steklo said:

Hi nbpf,

how are your findings concerning Allo DigiOne in comparison to your current setup with Schiit Eitr / Mutec MC-3+USB / M2Tech hiface EVO?

Best regards

Stefan

Hi Stefan, so far I have been focusing on comparing the Schiit Eitr, the  Mutec MC-3+USB and my M2Tech hiface EVO and left the DigiOne out of the equation. As you can read on

 

and

 

I have at least managed to draw some conclusions on these three devices. The results of the last listening I made with the DigiOne are reported here:

 

http://forums.naimaudio.com/topic/naim-uniti-core-hifiberry-digi-pro-allo-digione-and-spdif-dacs?reply=73511715488461163#73511715488461163

 

As soon as I am done with the comparison between Eitr and M2Tech, I will come back to the DigiOne and report. Best, nbpf

[nbpf]

On 1/4/2018 at 10:17 AM, steklo said:

Hi nbpf,

how are your findings concerning Allo DigiOne in comparison to your current setup with Schiit Eitr / Mutec MC-3+USB / M2Tech hiface EVO?

Best regards

Stefan

I have meanwhile made more detailed comparisons between the Allo DigiOne and the Schiit Eitr in the following setup:

 

A. Rpi 3 > DigiOne > Naim DC-1 BNC-BNC > Naim DAC input 2 > Naim SL connector > Naim SN2 > Naim NAC A5 > Naim Ovator S-400

B.            > Supra USB cable > Eitr > Canare RCA-BNC adapter >  Naim DC-1 BNC-BNC > Naim DAC input 1 >

 

Both the DigiOne and the Supra USB cable feeding the Eitr were connected to the same RPi 3 running MinimServer and upmpdcli under Raspbian stretch. I have listened to short snippets of tracks (including vocals, jazz, piano sonatas and symphonies) that I know rather well. My impression is that A and B sound almost identically. Perhaps the Eitr sounds a little bit warmer but I think that I would not be able to distinguish between them in blind tests. I have returned the Mutec, thus I cannot make a direct comparison with the DigiOne. In the listening tests that I made with Eitr and Mutec I preferred the Eitr. Similarly, I cannot make a direct comparison between the DigiOne and the M2Tech because the latter needs drivers that are not available for Raspbian. In a direct comparison between M2Tech and Eitr (same configuration as above but with the RPi 3 replaced by a fitPC3) I also find it difficult to distinguish between the two devices. In this case, however, I tend to believe that the Eitr sounds slightly better than the M2Tech. For completeness: The M2Tech is powered by a Teddy Pardo 9V/2A LPSU, the Eitr is powered by its AC wall plug transformer and the RPi 3 is powered by an ifi iPower 5V/2.5A PSU. 

[Advieira]

Playing Roon in a Mac Mini (no mods) using a good NAA (SMS200-Ultra<SPS-500 or UltraRendu>LPS1 ) connected to DAC compared to these very expensive streamers (Auralic Aries Extreme / Melco N1ZH / Aurender N10 / Innuos MkII) connected do DAC.

 

Same cables, DACs, same all.

 

Could be some of the these streamers be better? Is that possible?

[WuNgUn]

In my view, if the Mac Mini doesnt have an optical output, and youre using USB out, then there is lots to be desired.

Mainly power supply issues and noise...

[Evo-No-Revo]

So is it a clear consensus that if using a network player such as a dcs Network Bridge or SOTM Trifecta with a late 2012 Mac MIni that a power supply such as the Uptone JS-2 is in reality of no benefit?

 

I seem to see claims both ways..

[look&listen]

On 12/23/2017 at 8:33 PM, savjam said:

I bought a base model Mac Mini (4GB of RAM/none SSD) and Uptone Audio’s MMK and JS-2 power supply.

 

My Mac Mini has the MMK, and LPSU (but not a JS-2), which was a fine upgrade, but running a stripped down system from a SD card, is a larger increase in SQ. And a cheap upgrade too. I think a uRendu is $640.

Best sound I have ever had !

 

[astrostar59]

On 19 Jan 2018 at 12:16 AM, look&listen said:

 

My Mac Mini has the MMK, and LPSU (but not a JS-2), which was a fine upgrade, but running a stripped down system from a SD card, is a larger increase in SQ. And a cheap upgrade too. I think a uRendu is $640.

Best sound I have ever had !

 

How did you set that up? Simply install a new system and reboot off the SD card? And where do you have Audirvana+ or player software, on the SD card? I read conflicting reports on this, some say it was too slow, others it kept crashing. I am curious anyway, thoughts on this would be most helpful.

[Ralf11]

what is the budget?

 

I'd start with a really good DAC and optical isolation (or WiFi).  It is not clear to me that the internal DAC in macs is so bad, but a $2k DAC ought to get you some increment.

[look&listen]

8 hours ago, astrostar59 said:

How did you set that up? Simply install a new system and reboot off the SD card? And where do you have Audirvana+ or player software, on the SD card? I read conflicting reports on this, some say it was too slow, others it kept crashing. I am curious anyway, thoughts on this would be most helpful.

Of 4 SD cards I have varing experiences, still experimenting when time.

Suggest 32GB SDHC card with 80-98 MB/s read speed.

Install Mac OS (10.8.2 best, 10.9.5 Ok, 10.10 sound bad) no extras just basic OS.

Copy install files for A+ (+ any other s/w wanted like CCC) to SD card.

Use Start Up Prefrence to restart on new SD system. Complete install.

Install A+ and other s/w

Go to every Preference/every tab to turnoff everything consuming CPU like animations, spotlight, notifications, etc, etc. (google 'speed up yosemite' for more).

Readup CAD mac optimization script (search CA) copy and use if wanted.

Can put music files on SD but better to put on RAMdisk

[firewall416]

I just received the new Lumin U1 Mini and a bus powered 2TB USB SSD drive for storage. Up in running in less than 5 minutes!

 

The Mac Mini/Bel Canto Reflink/Audirvana  served me well for many years, but this new lower price Lumin transport only was hard to resist.

 

[firewall416]

The USB Drive was a bust with the Lumin U1 mini. 

 

I did not know that If you use a USB drive for storage, you loose most of the tag dependent views. I believe it mostly read folders and filename -- the way it looks.

It wouldn't be so bad if the IOS app did not crash 80% of the time with a library of 1700 titles, apx 24000 tracks when the music was source from the USB Drive. (I tried multiple drives and (3) IOS devices.. same result). Absolutely no issue with a NAS (keep reading)

 

That was all the bad stuff... Now the good stuff.

 

Removing the Mac mini / USB/ Bel Canto REFlink made my vinyls and reel to reel sound better!

It was most likely polluting the AC on the one dedicate AC outlet that I use for the system.

 

The Lumin is connected directly to my Berkeley Alpha DAC Serie 2 MQA upgraded by a AES cable.

I dumped the USB Drive and got a NAS QNAP TS-231-P2-4GB and set up minimServer (Router and NAS on a different AC Outlet , not the dedicated line)

 

Sound fantastic! Works great.

 

That's it

 

 

 

[Argonath]

Wow this is quite an interesting thread!

I see evaluating upgrade from a Mac mini to a music server, is so far focused on audio performance, and that's ok.

However, I'd like to ask the same question but from the functionalities point of view.

 

Foreword. I have a 2010 Mac mini with upgrade 8GB RAM, now evaluating SSD HDD upgrade.

Being fed up with iTunes limitations in metadata retrieval, album correct matching and so on, recently I opted for Roon (Woow).

Roon server sits on the Mac Mini itself.

The Mac is connected via FW to an external 1TB HDD for music repository, all ripped in .aiff; the music is sent via USB cable to a Rega DAC-R.

So far, I do not feel I need much Tidal or similar streaming services.

 

Now, considering the above, I should be fine. Still I am wondering what advantages from functionalities pow would I have upgrading to a Music server.

And btw doing that, I should also find a new home for Roon server.

 

Any thoughts?

Best Regards from the eternal city!

A

@firewall416 congrats for your system!

[Ralf11]

I would only spend for SSD if I needed the speed (which you won't for audio).

 

I would look into the amount of noise on your AC line in Rome!

 

A DAC that is isolated from electromagnetic noise on the AC line and from the computer is an excellent idea!  (esp. if you have first gotten good speakers, room treatments, etc.).  I don't know how well the Rega DAC-R is isolated, but I usually expect Linn to do a high quality job on everything they make.

 

I think your $$ will be better spent in buying the very best masterings of music you like than on a music server (tho Linn makes xlnt servers).  SACD or a high-Res recording will usually be well mastered, besides any benefit from the higher "res" itself.

 

If you had an infinite budget and were not interested in DIYing for fun, I'd give you my std. advice: buy the top Linn items, connect them and be happy.

[davide256]

Simplest approach to get better results would be an ISO Regen with LPS 1.2 power supply inserted between Mac mini and DAC (~$800). The ISO Regen will clean up/improve your clocking for greater resolution and it's USB 5v replace switch will allow you to use the clean LPS 1.2  power to feed the USB receiver section in your DAC for best USB performance. If you like the all in one approach feeding your DAC,  and are ready to spend more money look at the Innuos Zenith and Statement lines, they do power supply and electrical isolation well in a server

(~$2500 and up).