New Mac Mini released

[Phil Townsend]

'maybe you can use the aggregate audio function to use multiple outputs?????

Or ????

 

 

[efstro]

Chris,

 

Thanks. Any plans to review the new Mac Mini in the future? I know in many ways a Mac is a Mac, but It seems that the Mac Mini has a huge following as a music server mainly because of it's size. However, with the mini getting a HDMI output it's now a very complelling alternative to some of the other options IMO. I know some of the guys have concerns about noise with the internal power supply. It would be nice to have a detailed technical review that provides some perspective relative to other options.

 

Ed

 

[wgscott]

I may have to buy this:

 

32-bit, 96 KHz

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Nice!

 

Does it handle 88.2?

 

[wgscott]

I'll tell you tomorrow. It is sitting in the trunk of my car in the baking sun at Stanford Synchrotron at the moment.

 

Why on earth does it have 32-bit?

 

[Nyal Mellor]

32 bit float is often used for internal data transfer within computers. It does not mean DAC operates at 32bit

 

[wgscott]

The audio out for the internal speakers lists "16-bit, 20-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit" in Audio Midi. If you plug in an external USB DAC (like the one in my MM-1 speakers) that is limited to 16-bit, that is the only option that shows up in Audio Midi. So I think it does mean that the internal DAC can operate at 32-bit.

 

[Audio_ELF]

wgscott...

 

You're forgetting again that when you use a USB connected "DAC" then the available sample rates vary depending on the capabilities of the device as Audio Midi can "read" the available rates.

 

Eloise

 

[jonmarsh]

They measured power consumption of 6-7 watts browsing non-flash wev pages, so I guess Apple's power consumption specs are conservative. They also noted relatively high graphics performance for this type of system (what they call nettops, desktop systems based on net book class components (which the mini isn't, but it's power consumption falls in that category, actually beating many of the nettops).

 

They call it the category definer due to it's overall high performance.

 

[One and a half]

for Blu-ray speaking of renting movies.

 

[wgscott]

It is still unopened in the box. I was up all night doing experiments. I am hoping movie playback will be a bit improved, between the HDMI and the better graphics card, and having sound through HDMI fixes an irritation of mine. My only hope for music is that it doesn't sound any worse. I would be surprised if it was any better.

 

 

 

[jonmarsh]

Maybe I should just raid the piggy bank and find out for myself this weekend. ;^)

 

It's tempting, and if it plays back the 1080P MKV extractions from my Blu-Ray disks, then I'll have no excuse not to turn it into a full blown media server, which I was never intending to do with my original Mac Mini. But if hanging a 2TB drive on USB off of it is all I need additional, why not? The CPU utilization on the Mac Pro is pretty reasonable doing that with PLEX, though not the case with VLC, which really isn't up to it for 1080P MKV, even if you play games with the loop filter settings.

 

I shouldn't get my hopes up, I suppose, but it would be nice to have at least ONE pleasant surprise this year, eh? Then I could dedicate the 2009 mini to the bedroom system. After all, already have a mini-display port to HDMI adapter for it, just have to deal with the audio issues.

 

Let us know what you think once you do get around to unpacking it! With regards to your signature setup, I doubt they've done anything that would make the audio sound worse given an optical output baseline. I'm using Firewire, so I feel fairly safe there, too. Hope I'm not kidding myself!

 

 

[wgscott]

What kind of HDMI cable should I get?

 

[bottlerocket]

Fortunately we're audiophiles not videophiles, so the answer is easy. Get the cheapest one. E.g one less than $20

 

[wgscott]

@chris:

 

Yes, it does have 88.2 kHz listed. Sorry for the slow turn-around time. Setup has been completely smooth. We'll see how the migration goes ...

 

Also, recognizes/displays HDMI/Samsung (my TV) which apparently also can do 24-bit.

 

[jonmarsh]

Has a good Belkin HDMI cable for $19.95. They also have the Belkin DVI to HDMI for older Macs.

 

 

[wgscott]

I got that Belkin HDMI cable at Ross Dress for Less for $10. Pity I didn't get two at the time.

 

 

 

[barrows]

"What kind of HDMI cable should I get?"

 

Nordost.

 

[wgscott]

So this is kind of interesting.

 

You have to select between output devices in System Preferences>Sound or else in audio midi using the little gear thingie.

 

However, I found Play.app let's you select the output device in its preferences. So I can set the HDMI/TV as the output sound device, and all sound comes out the TV, but I can simultaneously use Play.app to play music via the other output (to my DAC) without having to change and toggle anything. If my speakers were in a different room, I could listen to music on this computer while someone else watched a movie, with it handling both sound outputs simultaneously but completely separately.

 

I don't know if iTunes can be tricked into doing this, but it might be an incentive to start to use Play.app more often.

 

[jonmarsh]

the new mini does fine with "uncompressed" 1080P MKV and other formats, and believe me, it looks in the "flesh" like a 21st century computer- i.e., you have to seriously wonder how they got it in that nearly seamless aluminum box. Have tried it with both Display port into the Apple 27" display and HDMI into a Panasonic Plasma. I haven't tried directly A/B'ing the Blu-ray disk and the MKV extraction I did from it, but using PLEX for playback, the experience seems quite comparable.

 

Forget using a less capable player software on this kind of material- VLC won't cut it on a 2.66 GHx Nehelam Quad Core Mac Pro, much less on a Mini.

 

Haven't had time to transfer and setup the audio library yet- real world chores and errands have their priorities, too. Picking it up and holding the box a foot away I can't hear any fan. That's probably good enough for me. ;^)

 

Two thumbs up so far.

 

[wgscott]

I am quite happy. The video is a drastic improvement. My kids are playing Spore at the moment and the graphics quality on that is vastly better.

 

The sound is at least as good. (It might be better, but probably placebo effect, or me having cleaned out the cabinet and simplified the wiring mess.)

 

Play.app no longer seems to work after switching the sampling frequency, but I suspect this is because of the 10.6.4 update.

 

[jonmarsh]

I know a lot of people on the forum like the Play app, but I've never had luck getting it to work with my high resolution material, mostly 24/176.4, so it's main use for me as a dedicated player for the "good stuff" is a non-starter.

 

Today I'm going to upgrade the RAM on the mini, though so far it's shown no sign of needing an upgrade. Loaded RME, M-Audio, and Hiface drivers yesterday.

 

[wgscott]

I figure I will wait on the ram. I have 4 gigs in a mini at work, and frankly can't tell the difference. If Ramjet has it cheap, I may do it at some point. But I am still in the phase where I am hoping my wife doesn't notice there is a new computer (I cloned the old one onto it.)

 

Ramjet has it reasonably cheap:

http://www.ramjet.com/macmini.asp#MacminiDDR3

 

It looks like you could get the most bang for the buck by replacing one of the 1 GB memory boards with a 4 GB memory board, to get 5 Gigs for $155.99.

 

 

 

[jonmarsh]

sitting around, so it was just pop the bottom cover off, and pop it in.

 

Now I'm setting up the iTunes Library on a 1TB external G-Drive, will take a little time for that. About 1/3 ALAC, about 2/3 Hi-res AIFF.

Another external OWC 2TB drive for movies, and I'm ready to go!

 

[wgscott]

I thought it was a TLA I was unaware of, but googled it. Thanks for the tip!