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New mac mini


PerK

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Just ordered a 2018 Mac Mini last week. Planning to use it to handle the grunt-work of HQPlayer processing. (I already have an audiophile music server, but it has an i3 processor and can't handle doing HQPlayer upsampling past 192k PCM.)

 

I'm going to dual-boot it between MacOS and Windows 10. With Windows available, I can skip using iTunes and get something more versatile. With MacOS there aren't a lot of choices available.

 

Has anyone else purchased a new Mac Mini for audio purposes?

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  • 3 months later...

The i7 Mac Mini can produce a lot of heat when it's worked hard. When I use HQPlayer to upsample to DSD256 with demanding filters, core temperature can go up to 90C-100C, which causes CPU throttling to occur. I've solved this issue via software and accessories. I purchased a Mac app that overrides the Mini's fan settings and allows me to customize them. I run the fans at their maximum setting (it's not very loud) for as long as I use the computer. I also purchased a set of 4 isolation cones from Parts Express ($30) and used them to lift the Mini off the surface of my desk. Now the maximum core temperature doesn't go above 60C and no throttling is occurring, as far as I can tell.

 

I wish Apple had incorporated better passive and active cooling to accommodate the increase in heat from faster processors, but I've made the best of it.

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1 hour ago, Sevenfeet said:

 

What filters can't your Mac Mini handle?  I'm looking at a Mac Mini to replace my 2008 Mac Pro as a central server & HQPlayer machine.

I do like my Mini quite a bit, but it's not at all an ideal audio machine/server.

 

You know about all the issues with the T2 chip and audio in the newer Mac models, right (like you can't install Linux or any other operating system but Windows)?  I wish I'd known about them before I bought the Mini. It's very difficult to get inside it to add your own RAM, not to mention the SSD is soldered to the logic board, which isn't ideal if you ever want to swap it out for a newer model.

 

As a server to my NAA, my Mac Mini can handle all of HQ's DSD256 filters. I'm using it as a HQPlayer/Roon server for my NAA. It is connected via a network switch via Ethernet. Mine was getting unpleasantly hot and the cores maxed out with the XTR and Closed-Form-16M filter. Once I added the isolation cones, it could handle them without any thermal issues and lower CPU usage. The core temperature doesn't go over 60% (or lower) running XTR and Closed-Form-16M filters, which is the lowest temp I've seen the Mini reach with my octa-core i7 chip, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 GB SSD drive.

 

I'm not sure about the Mini's HQPlayer DSD512 capabilities. I have not tried sending DSD512 audio via Ethernet. I use my Mini with a monitor, not as a headless source. I'd need to use it as a headless server if I wanted it to feed either of my DACs directly.

 

There are limitations on the level of HQPlayer-upsampled DSD that the Mini can put out when it's directly connected to a DAC. I've read conflicting information that it can only put out DSD128 and/or DSD256 at most. 

 

If you're not already tied into the Apple ecosystem, I'd suggest looking at the newest configurable Intel NUCs instead. They are a little bit cheaper, can output DSD256/512 directly to a DAC, and have the same (or better) abilities with HQPlayer.

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1 hour ago, Sevenfeet said:

First, you can disable the T2's security measures with a supplied Apple utility so you can boot to Linux if you want.  However, it's not on the main boot volume.  You'll need to boot from the recovery partition to access it ("Startup Security Utility").  Reboot with the option key pressed to access the recovery partition.

 

As Consuela would say, "No...no...no." You, sir, do not actually own a new Mac Mini. I do. 😁I have tried this "solution."  It doesn't work at all. You cannot install Linux or boot from a linux hard drive at this point. I am working with Euphony Audio, which makes a Linux-based audiophile OS, to try to get this to work. Their engineering team has not any luck so far, and I have not seen any proof in an online forum or news post showing that it's possible.

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Good news! The Mac Mini can do native DSD512, at least the less demanding filters. I spent a few hours fiddling with the settings, but had to stop because I have other stuff to do. What was weird is that the Mini really struggled with upsampling to DSD512 for the beginning of the first song-- heat going up to 100C and CPU usage at 100% -- but then things settled down and the heat went back down to 60C and the CPU usage went down to 50% or so. Maybe the initial conversion is the hard part? I had buffering set at 250ms. 

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