New mac mini

[MMMSA-10]

On 11/4/2018 at 7:39 PM, Ralf11 said:

just use the regular USB-A connection - but galvanic isolation is what you want - some DACs do it internally (which is likely best)

I have just set up a Mac Mini 2018 as a headless server.

 

It's the basic quad-core i3, but with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD.

 

Yes, it does need some isolation: I was previously using my MacBook with Audirvana (as proof of concept before buying the Mini) and it was excellent save dropouts when playing (only) QuadDSD files. I would have assumed that my DAC (SA-10) was fairly competently designed. 

 

Same happened with the Mac Mini until I inserted an iFi nano iGalvanic3 isolator. In one of the three switch positions ("DC-RF") the dropouts are gone (although in other two "ISO" and "RF") they remain.

 

The basic Mini is very good - processor activity probably maxes at 60% (across all 4 cores) when loading a QuadDSD song into memory, but drops to ca. 25% or less when playing. The CPU usage seems pretty much linked to file depth.