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2010 Mac Mini Audio Tweaks

First of all Happy New Year to Everyone!! : )

I am looking to try and optimize the Mini for audio. The only thing is that i do need to use the mini to stream the internet and it is not a dedicated music server. I may do that down the road but not at this time. Mac Mini currently has 4gb of Ram and i know it is best to have 8gb. I am using a HRT Music Streamer ll+ USB DAC in conjunction with Pure Music. I am thinking of taking the plunge towards the Eastern Electric Minimax Plus DAC down the road. External Firewire drive in the works as well.

About Tweaks:
I have read of some things to do but was wondering if these will have dramatic performance issues for me while surfing the web at any time?
Did turn off Bluetooth as it was enabled and i was unaware that it was. This definitely did make things sound better right away!

I read about running at 64 bit (which i thought i was??)
Playlist mode?
Cache mode?
ignorant of what these are and if they will effect surfing performance negatively if changed

Are these things i need to do in the "Terminal"? If so i am not that computer literate and would appreciate any help in helping me get my computer optimized for audio performance within the parameters of still needing to be able to surf the web at the same time without me screwing up my computer. Thank you!!
seekburk
4 responses Add your response
turboglo
110 posts
 
In response to the original poster, getting Pure Music settings right helps a lot. The most important things, IME, are deselecting upsampling, using hog mode, toggling "less-is-more," and of course memory play with 8 GB of RAM.

The mac mini tweaks are also important. For some of them, it's difficult to discern the effect of the individual change alone, but taken together, the improvement is significant.

Play around and have fun!
turboglo
110 posts
 
Thesoundhouse:

1) Do you use a SSD or HDD with the Oyen?

2) Do you power it through the firewire bus or a/c adapter?

3) Could you restate this: "One little tweak that yields nice results and cheap, is to listen to the mac mini with flipping the plug over at the wall until you find the which sounds best."
seekburk OP
126 posts
 
Thank you very much Thesoundhouse!

I just went through the Optimization guide from Ultrafi you graciously provided, and i have done some of the things already mentioned in there. There are some i have not. My main question now since i am NOT using my computer as an exclusive music server at present is....is it safe for me to turn off the Spotlight feature without having any ill effects on my day to day computing experience. I have been running the Mac Mini for quite sometime now but never have i actually used the "Spotlight" feature. This being said i don't know if that is a necessary component to have enabled for doing day to day tasks and streaming??? I will disable Dashboard today and see if that gains me anymore sonic performance.

Read some posts this morning that some people seem to think addressing the power supply issue is more important then trying to get the Mac Mini booting into 64 bit mode. I checked and my Mini is NOT running in 64 bit. Again, since i am not using this as a dedicated music server i don't know if that is even something i should be attempting. I'm definitely not the most computer literate and i really don't want to foul anything up. thanks again for the help and the info you provided!
thesoundhouse
250 posts
 
There are many things that you can do to make your 2010 Mac Mini sound extremely good. 1st thing I would do is replace the stock internal hard drive with a 40gig SSD drive. On the internal SSD drive only keep the operating system and the music players you plan on using. Next Go to this link http://www.ultrafi.biz and download the free Optimization Guide for Apple OS X. Next get an external hard drive. The Oyen digital enclosure here at this link is the best I have heard in my system; http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/CB3-54-1000-BK.html This is where you will store your music files. Music Rippers are also very important the one I like the best is XLD. Use XLD to rip your music to your hard drive and make sure you rip your music in the AIF format instead of FLAC and or MP 3 You should also address the power cord. One little tweak that yields nice results and cheap, is to listen to the mac mini with flipping the plug over at the wall until you find the which sounds best. I would pay close attention to the optimization guide.
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