move on from mac mini

Innocent Bystander posted:

tonym posted:

Forgot to add - I did try my trusty old Mini into my DAVE recently out of interest, and the difference the Melco makes over the Mini's even more pronounced. On the subject of Dirac, when I first used it I had the advantage of having it set up by an experienced user, a fellow forum member. Watching what he did in comparison with the instructions I would have followed was quite an education. I've since used Dirac on my original 7.1 surround system using a MniDSP box & once set up it was great. However, it took me ages and umpteen iterations to get it to sound right. I have set up Amarra iRC in my second system, but there I tend to prefer Audirvana+, it seems more reliable.

Interesting. Given that my brief comparison of MM/A and N1A into Dave revealed no immediately apparent differences, this  suggests something very different with your MM/A and mine, or the Melco I tried and yours - unfortunately I doubt we’ll ever know which.

Indeed. The first DAVE I tried really didn't work well in my system. Several forum members were here when I did the comparison with my old QBD76, & the latter was better, DAVE, being very detailed but unacceptably harsh. After speaking to Rob Watts and Alastair from my dealers, Signals, at the recent Hi-Fi show, I decided to give DAVE another chance. This time, I had made a few changes to the system (had my 500s DR'd, was using an iFi 3.0 USB galvanic Isolator). This was also a different unit to the one I'd previously borrowed. Anyway, whatever it was, it's done the trick. Yet more evidence, if it were needed, that without trying in your own system, all bets are off. A funny old business...

dave4jazz posted:

Hi

You can discount Auralic as they don't support Andriod. Innous is an option but have a look at Vortexbox and microrendu. I'm not allowed to give you specific website links but there's a very helpful guy called Martin at an online "audiostore".

Good luck

Dave

talked to marin v helpful

bit confusing... which did you buy?

thanks

I understand that you don't want to replace your iPad, but honestly an Apple device to control your system is way less expensive that many of your other options.  I know some people have / get this visceral "I shalt not own (another) iOS device," but such carries its own limitations and penalties.

sjw posted:

dave4jazz posted:

Hi

You can discount Auralic as they don't support Andriod. Innous is an option but have a look at Vortexbox and microrendu. I'm not allowed to give you specific website links but there's a very helpful guy called Martin at an online "audiostore".

Good luck

Dave

talked to marin v helpful

bit confusing... which did you buy?

thanks

Hi

As you’ve found Martin is very helpful.

About 6 months ago I purchased a Vortexbox MicroServer 2, with 500GB hard disk, running Logitech Media Server (LMS), managed, over my home network, from a Windows 10 PC. The Vortexbox is dedicated to music storage and playback via DAC-V1 USB input. Music playback is controlled using android devices (there are several apps available). Previously I had a QNAP NAS and Logitech Squeezebox Touch media player which was becoming difficult to maintain.

I had two long telephone conversations with Martin before settling on what I needed. There’s a lot of useful information on the website. Your requirements may be different from mine.

Does the server need to have ripping capability? I rip CDs, and download music files, using my PC and then copy to the server.

Take your time and don’t be rushed.

As an aside I don't find the average hifi dealer very helpful where computer based audio is concerned, especially android based.

If I can help I will.

Good luck.

Dave

A simple solution is to get a streamer like a 272 or a Linn DS.

However, I find that with a MM, you will unlikely experience dropouts from some high bit rate services like Tidal, whereas with a high end streamers, even they are relatively more expensive, you will have dropouts now and then, even you hard wire the internet, which I find very frustrating.

Peter Dinh posted:

A simple solution is to get a streamer like a 272 or a Linn DS.

However, I find that with a MM, you will unlikely experience dropouts from some high bit rate services like Tidal, whereas with a high end streamers, even they are relatively more expensive, you will have dropouts now and then, even you hard wire the internet, which I find very frustrating.

Running upmpdcli on a Raspberry Pi gives you stable Tidal and Qobuz streaming (and, of course, LAN streaming) for about 35 EUR. If you are not satisfied with the sound quality, you can always replace the RPi with an ultraRendu later.

nbpf posted:

Peter Dinh posted:

A simple solution is to get a streamer like a 272 or a Linn DS.

However, I find that with a MM, you will unlikely experience dropouts from some high bit rate services like Tidal, whereas with a high end streamers, even they are relatively more expensive, you will have dropouts now and then, even you hard wire the internet, which I find very frustrating.

Running upmpdcli on a Raspberry Pi gives you stable Tidal and Qobuz streaming (and, of course, LAN streaming) for about 35 EUR. If you are not satisfied with the sound quality, you can always replace the RPi with an ultraRendu later.

Based on some of the OP’s comments to date, I suspect the he/she would want very clear guidance on what is needed to set that up, as in exactly what to buy and how to connect together, including connecting hard drives for storage, before considering.

I have no experience of RPi or mR, but I suspect latter would be necessary to be equivalent or close to well set up Mac Mini/Audirvana.

OP, in your shoes I would stick with the MM and switch over to Roon. For me it's massively better than any other streaming software. You could keep your Mac Mini plugged into the DAC. You will then be able to take advantage of the upsampling (to DSD) that is now built in to Roon (presuming you have a DSD enabled DAC V1, if not do the software update). There will be loads of experimentation to be had then with upsampling and room correction. Your old MM will run this fine as long as you are not trying to fly different upsampled streams to different endpoints.

For control points you will be able to use laptops, recentish iPads and Android devices.

If you really want to then get the MM out of your hifi then you could put it in another room/office and just use it as a serving Roon Core and plug something like an Aries Mini or Microrendu into your DAC as a proper Roon endpoint. Loads of options for endpoints.

For me and many others, Roon leaves everything else for dead. Like all things there are detractors but if you've not looked at Roon before you should (via free trial). It absolutely transformed digitally stored music for me and the software has just got better and better with each subsequent release.

Innocent Bystander posted:

nbpf posted:

Peter Dinh posted:

A simple solution is to get a streamer like a 272 or a Linn DS.

However, I find that with a MM, you will unlikely experience dropouts from some high bit rate services like Tidal, whereas with a high end streamers, even they are relatively more expensive, you will have dropouts now and then, even you hard wire the internet, which I find very frustrating.

Running upmpdcli on a Raspberry Pi gives you stable Tidal and Qobuz streaming (and, of course, LAN streaming) for about 35 EUR. If you are not satisfied with the sound quality, you can always replace the RPi with an ultraRendu later.

Based on some of the OP’s comments to date, I suspect the he/she would want very clear guidance on what is needed to set that up, as in exactly what to buy and how to connect together, including connecting hard drives for storage, before considering.

You might be right but we cannot provide this level of guidance in this forum, among others because we are not allowed to post links. This is particularly true for me because my posts are moderated. If the OP is comfortable with Google search, it should not be difficult to find out how to install Raspbian and upmpdcli on a Raspberry Pi.

Innocent Bystander posted:

nbpf posted:

Peter Dinh posted:

A simple solution is to get a streamer like a 272 or a Linn DS.

However, I find that with a MM, you will unlikely experience dropouts from some high bit rate services like Tidal, whereas with a high end streamers, even they are relatively more expensive, you will have dropouts now and then, even you hard wire the internet, which I find very frustrating.

Running upmpdcli on a Raspberry Pi gives you stable Tidal and Qobuz streaming (and, of course, LAN streaming) for about 35 EUR. If you are not satisfied with the sound quality, you can always replace the RPi with an ultraRendu later.

...

I have no experience of RPi or mR, but I suspect latter would be necessary to be equivalent or close to well set up Mac Mini/Audirvana.

I do not know, I have no first-hand experiences with Mac Mini + Audirvana or with microRendu or ultraRendu and I have not come across detailed comparisons between these devices. Any meaningful comparison would anyway have to take into account the power supplies used for these devices.

sjw posted:

Thanks i suppose the max I want to spend is less than £1000- I should have said that...

Perhaps you can have a look at the Magna Mano server. It comes with SPDIF outputs and costs less than 1000 EUR. As I wrote, I personally would for the time being stay with the Mac Mini and keep a Raspberry Pi as a backup solution in case the Mini stops working. You are not under pressure, thus there is no need to invest a lot of money. In particular, there is no need to invest a lot of money on solutions that will likely be obsolete in a few months.

To the OP, have a look at The Hugo of streaming? thread, say the last 3-4 pages. It is a bit detailed in places, but I am sure if you asked the main proponents specific questions you would be likely to get some useful answers to questions, and good guidance if you do decide to go ahead.

MacMini at six years is still a pup.  You have time to make a careful decision.  You might swap in a cheap solid-state drive in the meantime — I did — new lease on life.

Nick

nbpf posted:

sjw posted:

Thanks i suppose the max I want to spend is less than £1000- I should have said that...

Perhaps you can have a look at the Magna Mano server. It comes with SPDIF outputs and costs less than 1000 EUR. As I wrote, I personally would for the time being stay with the Mac Mini and keep a Raspberry Pi as a backup solution in case the Mini stops working. You are not under pressure, thus there is no need to invest a lot of money. In particular, there is no need to invest a lot of money on solutions that will likely be obsolete in a few months.

And That means no need to take a hit in terms of sound quality as for now at least you can keep using Audirvana, either using VNC or similar remote software on any device to control it (N.B. as well as Android devices, VNC still runs quite happily on a Mk 1 iPad), or getting an iPad to use purely as a music control interface using Audirvana’s control app. Of course, seeing that you have A+, if not already done check that it is  fully optimised for best sound quality, 

So, if keeping MM for the time being at least, options include the following - and some could be trialled in parallel

1. Install/trial Roon on the MM
2. Sell/part exchange your preamp and DAC for A 272 - if you install UPnP software on the MM it can serve as a NAS for the time being, saving money if necessary, and in the future if necessary or if you desire, swap it for some other NAS (e.g. QNAP if you don’t want an audible fan).
3. if the V1 is better sound quality than the 272 (I have no idea), just buy a secondhand ND5XS, suing it with the V1 and MM as NAS.
4. Buy an RPi (it’s cheap) and play
5. Study info on microRendu, which can be used with MM or other NAS, or with RPi for a DIY but cheaper solution.

The above are aimed at retaining something like the sound quality of which MM/A is capable while keeping within £1000 budget. There are of course a multitude of options that might not achieve anywhere near, but I know nothing of them, and would wonder why you’d consider them.