CAPS 3.0 Zuma vs Mac Mini


I've narrowed my voices to one of these two. Both look like they could do a great job and sound exceptional. At this time I could not use the Mini as I'm running jRiver ( I know there is a MAC version forthcoming). I'd probably run either with 16 gig of RAM, linear PSU, solid state drive, Ethernet for bridge, top of line Intel i7 processor.

Any ideas would be welcome.
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Showing 1 response by doggiehowser

I think if you want to go the MacMini route, you can consider the Mojo mods which replaces the switched mode internal PSU with a DC filtered board. There's an external linear PSU that's larger than 4 Minis :P

A custom built CAPS server may sound better if care is taken in the choice of components. Like others have highlighted, there are audiophile/esoteric PSUs (fanless), USB cards etc which can make a difference.

But if there's one thing I am not too keen on with Windows setups is how it progressively gets slower with each update from Microsoft. I'm now currently typing this on a freshly installed BootCamped MBP 13" dual core (circa 2009) and it's surprisingly zippy compared to a quad core that was last clean formatted about a year ago.

I don't find this to be the case with my Macs.

The other reason I use Macs is cos I use iTunes for my music archiving (also sync-ing with my iPod/iPhone/iPad etc) and I use the free Remote app on iOS to control the headless Mini (it works with PureMusic/AudirvanaPlus/Amarra etc). iTunes for PC is a bit more bloated and less integrated with the OS.