Sonic differences between Mac Mini 2009 and 2010?


Hi, I'm wondering if any one has compared a Mac Mini 2010 to Mac Mini 2009. My audio buddy and I A and B'd a 2010 Mac Mini vs. a 2009 Mac Mini. Both were running Snow Leopard and Pure Music identically configured. Both were running off of nearly identical Bolder Cable Linear Power supplies. All cables were identical. Both have SSD and 8gb of RAMBoth went into the same DAC, amp, speaker etc. The results clearly showed that the 2009 sounded far better: more air, bigger soundstage, more detail, more dynamic. Since I own the 2010 and my buddy owns the 2009, I was not exactly elated at the results. Wayne from Bolder suggests the difference has to be in the computer. I don't know what differences there could be. Any one have any ideas? Thanks.
ldworet

Showing 1 response by seakayaker

Mac-centric audio experts, Greetings. I could also use advice on this topic. I just ordered the new USB-only Ultra Fi DAC-41; Larry of UF likes the Mac Mini and has some good advice to offer; but I, too, would appreciate folks chiming in on this question, as well as offering their best tips and lessons-from-experience on this sort of Mac-based set-up. It will be a different computer universe for me.

In my case, doing double duty for A --> D recording and audio production in a home studio environment figures into the equation as well. The DAW will probably be the musician-friendly Ableton Live.

In general, can routine web browsing and movie watching be accommodated in this schema (for practical reasons) without compromising the audio when the big rig needs to be at its best?