Will My Macbook (Snow Leopard) be enough for Server

Posted by: Yeast on 06 December 2012

As a newbie here, I am looking forward to getting my ND5XS next week. I currently have no server other than iTunes on my old Macbook (not the pro). I can dedicate it to server duty and take of all the other stuff. I also have a new external USB 3TB hard drive I can use. The CD ROM in the Macbook is 5-6 years old.

 

Can I use this computer effectively as a server and for ripping quality files? Do I need a newer Mac? The naim unity server seems to be quite expensive for what it does (and doesn't do).

 

The ultimate goal is to get my CDs and SACD DSD 'd loaded for streaming. I will be purchasing HD files in the future.

Posted on: 06 December 2012 by Guido Fawkes
Yeast:
 
I would not use the MacBook as server, but if you want to give it go then you should load Yazsoft's Playback  software. 
 
The ND5XS cannot play DSDs, it is PCM only ... if using the MacBook as a server there is no way to convert DSD to PCM on the fly. If you really want to play DSD then you need something like a Chord DAC.
 
If DSD is the future then a lot of manufacturers are going to have to have rethink, but like SADCD and DVD-A, it will probably just go away. 
 
You cannot rip SACDs (a Mac or PC can't even recognise the SACD layer) ... you can extract hi-res music from SACD using a universal player (Sony makes one for around £300) that outputs to HDMI and then using and audio/video splitter and capturing the output ... I couldn't be bothered myself. 
 
The MacBook will make bit perfect rips of CDs so no issue there. 
 
I'd get a Vortexbox or NAS if I were you .... Vortexbox will run on almost any old Intel PC, it obliterates anything that is on the machine when you install it and turns it in to a music server/ripper 
 
All the best, Guy 
Posted on: 07 December 2012 by AntonD

Just for info, I have an iMac with 500gb disk. It's a mid 2011 model. Like Guido says, I installed Playback UPnP software onto it and everything works perfectly. my source is nd5xs and the sound I get is amazing. My iTunes library is all aiff and I also store hidef music to a specific folder. I share this folder via Payback and the nd5xs can then read all contents. I've had no issues at all regarding streaming, etc... It just works brilliantly. I think when music lib starts to grow I have my eyes on a new Mac mini, 1 TB hard disk. ATB, Anton