Mac Mini as a streamer vs Naim and Linn

I'll leave it to Guido to discuss the merits of the Mac into the nDac. Just wondering why you were choosing Flac on the Mac platform. Sticking with AIFF would allow you to manage your music with iTunes and use something like XLD for the ripping. It gives you more choice - Mac via Toslink into the nDac or Mac via UPnP (which i do) into the Naim or Linn streaming products.

James

Thank you James for your comments.

I am a purest so initially was going to rip in WAV then a Linn dealer recommended FLAC (preserves metadata) and is a bit for bit copy as is WAV so I decided to start with FLAC. In terms of itunes, I was going to FLAC all the CD's then convert the FLAC's in one go to ALAC or AIFF with some or other converter , import to Itunes - subscribe to itunes match which apparently gives you a better quality copy of your song then I would have 2 options ie using my FLAC rips with NAIM stuff or itunes with itunes match.

Sorry, it's all a bit confusing - in the end I'm just looking for the best sound.

cheers

Tony

Hi Tony- i'm not sure what iTunes match will give you sound quality wise apart from cloud storage and synchronisation over multiple iDevices. AIFF will preserve Metadata and is uncompressed - the apple version of WAV

Although a lot of people think of iTunes as just a way of managing and storing Lo-Res downloads from the iTunes store, iTunes does allow you to store and play the files in native format - ie CD's at 16/44.1, Hi-Res downloads at 24/192 etc. Linn and Naim devices will handle Flac / Wav / AIFF etc. I prefer to use XLD as the ripper rather than use the built in iTunes ripper.

I find iTunes to be an easy way to manage my library and feed music over my home network to my NDX (before that a Linn DS). I've used iTunes all along, even when using the Mac n DAC approach, albeit with Weiss converters rather than Naim.

no.  No.  NO.  ******NO***** Tony

iTunes match gives you 256kbps AAC files -- much lower quality than what you are ripping!  Fine (imho) for listening with earbuds when you are out and about, or on your auto's sound system, but NOT fine for listening on a quality hi fi at home.

Just to reiterate, and directly from apple.com:

"Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality."

iTunes match has its place, but not to replace your home-grown library of lossless rips.

Hi Bart

Thanks for putting me right about itunes match.

Any ideas about a possible system fronted with a mac mini?

cheers

Tony

Hi Tony, 

do you have another Mac than the mini? What are you ripping with?

If you thought the system you auditioned did not sound 9K's worth, here are a few options for building a very nice sounding system without spending too much money:

- second hand Nait XS 

- second hand nDAC or ND5XS (probably new, unless you can find one second hand) 

- speakers to match, my choice would be a pair of Totem Arro but there are many other good options for you to choose from.

If you went for the ND5XS you wouldn't need the Mac mini any longer, a NAS would be most suitable. The ND5 is a great little streamer, I owned one until today but decided to sell it again. I built my system around the nDAC and use a modified Sonos ZP90 for streaming. To my ears it sounds just as good as the ND5 into nDAC/555PS. Doesn't do hires though but that's not a big thing to me.  I bought the ND5 second hand, so did not lose any money on it. However, if I were starting out fresh, I would also consider the ND5. Sound wise it is not quite where the nDAC is but it's a very neat all in one solution and offers other advantages, e.g. you can control it using nStream, good choice of Internet Radio, etc. And it does sound very good and it would be a well balanced partner for the Nait XS.

If you wanted to build a system around a mac mini, the nDAC makes more sense IMO. If this approach appeals to you I would sell your 2009 mini and get a current model second hand on the famous auction site. Low specs are fine. Guido seems to think that the optical out of the latest model running Lion is much superior to earlier versions. Not sure this is necessarily the case but he's looked into this. All I can say is that the optical out of my 2010 Macbook pro 2010 running Snow Leopard, sound exceptionally feeding the nDAC as source. 

For ripping I would use XLD, it runs native on Mac, and rip to AIFF as James said. No point in faffing around with FLAC, if you are Mac based.

Good luck

tp

Tony,

What system do you use at the mo to play your Mac through?

Stu

Tony,

a tiny bit of suggestion from one who has partial knowledge of this, but a Mac.

If your Mac is updated enough OS wise, I would:

- buy Bitperfect, for around £4, on the Apple Store. It's a small app that will output your data bit perfect and automatically select the native format of the file to send to the (external) clock/dac.

- buy Playback, an app that will enable the Mac to go UPnP, which is not so obvious by default.

UPnP is a protocol that allows a pc/server to be seen and used inside a network.

- Try to borrow a Squeexebox Touch to try a bit with the concept and see how your network works.

It has a very good clock and decent DAC so:

- If your streaming option is via a network, MacMini + SBT + Amp should be ok; in the future, a better DAC perhaps.

- If your streaming option is not a network, MacMini + Dac + Amp should be ok BUT you'll need a display to manage the files on the MacMini, so either keep a monitor in the system or use an iPod, iPad, iPhone as remote controller.

Hope this helps,

Max

P.s. Tony,

Sorry I somehow skipped the last part of your post.

You have the option of a SuperUniti: it would manage your MacMini perfectly as per option 1 (network). And you have the option of a SuperNait, that has a DAC and would manage your MacMini ok as per option 2 (no network).

If funds allow, I have heard the SuperUniti and somehow regretfully (it was released a few weeks after I bought my brand new SuperNait, and I didn't know it) I'd suggest that, has an excellent amp and its streaming section is hard to tell from the ND5XS's.

Cheers

Max

Hi Stu

I have sold all my hi-fi equip so at the moment have 2,000+ cd's and nothing to play them on....

I wanted a bit of a new start and to 'embrace' streaming. Anyway, I have 4 apple macs and a number of PC's - all cd's have been ripped to ext drive and are in the FLAC format.

After my demo with Superuniti + S600's I was not sufficiently bowled over to pay out £9500. At the end of the day I'm happy to pay out cash but it's got to be great sound and hopefully great value.

I hope you see where I'm coming from and can help.

Many thanks.

Tony

Hi Tony,

I am running iTunes & Audirvana on a Mac Mini (2010). The Mac is connected to an nDac via M2Tech Evo (it does the conversion from USB to SPDIF). Amp is Nait XS (with Flatcap XS) into Totem Hawks. That's a really great combo. I decided for myself not to go for a streamer but continue the Mac path.

Best regards,

mipi

Tony - what other bits do you have - iPhone, iPad etc. Remember you can also run your mini headless ( which is what I do ) and control it remotely using another Mac etc ?

James