The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

[MikeH]

Very curious about building a Mini Mac set-up. I'm contemplating one now dedicated to music in order to move music files off of my shared family iMac. @romany - how would you recommend I get started? Would love the insights of others as well.

I have an old Mini (2012) that I thought about using for this purpose for a while but never went that route. Since I have Roon, my goal for streaming is to build a NAS and use an iPad (mini?) as the remote / now playing screen and my Node as the end point

Apparently the NAS’ that support being a roon core can struggle with the Roon core software, it demands more resources than they are designed for. You could use a computer as the core and just store on the NAS too I suppose but having the comp on all the time has to be a pain. I really liked the intel NUC with a big hard drive running with the roon rock software as a headless always on roon core.

I have Roon with an intel NUC running Roon rock OS. It was not expensive put together. Of course if you have a Mac Mini already (or don't want to pay for Roon, that may be a different story). I wanna say I built the entire thing including a 1TB SSD for under $400. And it's extremely simple to set up.

I really love it so far. I can just drop any music files onto it wirelessly through my network when I download or rip something. We have a LOT of ways to play music in our house (google home in the kitchen, sonos in various rooms, then high res with external DAC set ups in my office and living room. Living room has an Aries Mini Roon Ready end point and my office DAC is hooked up to my computer and works as an end point if my comp is on and running Roon. That comp is always on anyway because it syncs all my work files via Dropbox. Roon can be sent to any of my devices to stream through the app (with varying levels of quality of course depending on the inputs on those speakers). It's all really seamless and connects Qobuz/Tidal as well. Just one big library.

I used to have a NAS and a separate computer setup for my high res streaming and it was a bit annoying for me personally. Things have likely changed since I did that though (5+ years ago). The NUC is just next to my router and requires no maintenance right now.

Happy to answer any questions if I can if the NUC is something you may want to explore. I feel like @Joe Mac and some others here helped me figure out what to buy for the NUC.

 

[romany]

I’ve got a very nice, fairly new Topping D70s that I will be using with this setup; already my main DAC. I’m using balanced WBC Mogami/Neutrik interconnects with the Topping and digital coax from BJC.

@romany and I came to an agreement and I purchased his Mac Mini. Looks like I’ll be figuring out how best to set it up soon!

Looks like you're on top of that game. PM me if you have any questions or issues with the Mac.

 

[JohnnyCashFan]

I’ve got a very nice, fairly new Topping D70s that I will be using with this setup; already my main DAC. I’m using balanced WBC Mogami/Neutrik interconnects with the Topping and digital coax from BJC.

@romany and I came to an agreement and I purchased his Mac Mini. Looks like I’ll be figuring out how best to set it up soon!

Playing with those filters in the Topping will be fun!

If you do not want to have a dedicated monitor on the mini you can use sidecar or various apps to mirror the mini display to a ipad

Use an iPad as a second display for a Mac

With Sidecar, you can use your iPad as a display that extends or mirrors your Mac desktop.

support.apple.com

and of course remote

 

[kvetcha]

is this the right place to discuss MoFi?




ok...please put the knives away

 

[MikeH]

is this the right place to discuss MoFi?




ok...please put the knives away

sure haha. they sound good and prove that digital sources can still sound great on vinyl.

 

[Joe Mac]

is this the right place to discuss MoFi?




ok...please put the knives away

The SACDs and Gold CDs? Sure.

 

[kvetcha]

sure haha. they sound good and prove that digital sources can still sound great on vinyl.

I'm convinced people are angriest that their ears perhaps aren't as golden as they thought. Good sound is good sound.

 

[MikeH]

I picked up a 5 SACD changer this weekend for $20 in a local charity shop. got a few cheap SACDs as well to give it a test and see if I may want to go down the SACD rabbit hole...might just stick with streaming but was kinda curious about the sound overall.

 

[Joe Mac]

I picked up a 5 SACD changer this weekend for $20 in a local charity shop. got a few cheap SACDs as well to give it a test and see if I may want to go down the SACD rabbit hole...might just stick with streaming but was kinda curious about the sound overall.

Honestly I thought they sounded better than CDs on my old one but I wasn’t blown away. I think that’s largely down to the constraints of the in built DACs unless you get a really good expensive one and the inability to extract the DSD layer to an external DAC without going for a super expensive bespoke matching set from one of the 2 or 3 companies that do that. I think you’re talking at minimum 3k+ on a nice marantz before you can properly compare them to audiophile vinyl on some of the nice carts, tables and phono stages that we are all running.

 

[Joe Mac]

Honestly I thought they sounded better than CDs on my old one but I wasn’t blown away. I think that’s largely down to the constraints of the in built DACs unless you get a really good expensive one and the inability to extract the DSD layer to an external DAC without going for a super expensive bespoke matching set from one of the 2 or 3 companies that do that. I think you’re talking at minimum 3k+ on a nice marantz before you can properly compare them to audiophile vinyl on some of the nice carts, tables and phono stages that we are all running.

The exception may be with DSD, thinking about it, to instead of a SACD player to buy a cheap blu ray player in the SACD ripper list and to simply rip them to and ISO and use your computer to turn that into DSD files. Especially for someone like you with a DSD capable streaming transport that can pass it signal via USB to your nice DSD capable DAC.

 

[MikeH]

The exception may be with DSD, thinking about it, to instead of a SACD player to buy a cheap blu ray player in the SACD ripper list and to simply rip them to and ISO and use your computer to turn that into DSD files. Especially for someone like you with a DSD capable streaming transport that can pass it signal via USB to your nice DSD capable DAC.

yea i was hoping i could send the DSD through to my DAC but doesn't seem like this one can do that. it doesn't have HDMI out and won't send DSD out through the digital outputs. i've seen some sonys that can output the straight DSD that are around $60 then can buy a box that converts HDMI to I2S. My Singxer DAC can take an I2S signal. But probably seems like too much work/investment when I'm happy with my streaming setup already...

ripping is a possibility too but might not be worth it either. I'd still have to buy the SACDs which aren't cheap in a lot of cases.

 

[Joe Mac]

yea i was hoping i could send the DSD through to my DAC but doesn't seem like this one can do that. it doesn't have HDMI out and won't send DSD out through the digital outputs. i've seen some sonys that can output the straight DSD that are around $60 then can buy a box that converts HDMI to I2S. My Singxer DAC can take an I2S signal. But probably seems like too much work/investment when I'm happy with my streaming setup already...

Yeah that’s practically impossible. There are a few work arounds for some blu ray players but in a general sense it can’t be done. Don’t really went all in with the SACD DRM. Ripping them to files really is the best work around if you must use your own DAC.

 

[MikeH]

Yeah that’s practically impossible. There are a few work arounds for some blu ray players but in a general sense it can’t be done. Don’t really went all in with the SACD DRM. Ripping them to files really is the best work around if you must use your own DAC.

i was reading up on it last week and people did manage to get DSD streaming through to I2S on a few different models of cheaper blu ray/SACD players with an HDMI audio out. but its just adding so many more "boxes" and seems like a ton of work for potentially little gain...

 

[Joe Mac]

i was reading up on it last week and people did manage to get DSD streaming through to I2S on a few different models of cheaper blu ray/SACD players with an HDMI audio out. but its just adding so many more "boxes" and seems like a ton of work for potentially little gain...

Yeah blu ray players that are SACD compatible pass DSD over HDMI to AV receivers to allow 5.1 stuff. You can get a box to transform that to I2S over HDMI or have some older oppo’s modded with a new board to have an I2S over HDMI port.

I’ve yet to see an actual SACD player that does that, I’d imagine that Sony have the licences locked down pretty hard and have refused that other than the few super expensive same brand models with proprietary I2S connections and handshakes from the likes of Esoteric and PS Audio.

Also nice to know no one listens to me , I’ve said this all a lot down the years, I did a lot of research into this at various stages having owned an SACD player and SACDs long before I got into vinyl lol.

 

[MikeH]

Yeah blu ray players that are SACD compatible pass DSD over HDMI to AV receivers to allow 5.1 stuff. You can get a box to transform that to I2S over HDMI or have some older oppo’s modded with a new board to have an I2S over HDMI port.

I’ve yet to see an actual SACD player that does that, I’d imagine that Sony have the licences locked down pretty hard and have refused that other than the few super expensive same brand models with proprietary I2S connections and handshakes from the likes of Esoteric and PS Audio.

Also nice to know no one listens to me , I’ve said this all a lot down the years, I did a lot of research into this at various stages having owned an SACD player and SACDs long before I got into vinyl lol.

I mostly saw a (not-so) shiny new (old) toy at a charity shop and wanted to buy it haha. and all the talk of DSD made me curious again. but i have gotten a bunch of DSD downloads in the past few months. prior to the past few weeks, I haven't looked into SACD much at all.

 

[Joe Mac]

I mostly saw a (not-so) shiny new (old) toy at a charity shop and wanted to buy it haha. and all the talk of DSD made me curious again. but i have gotten a bunch of DSD downloads in the past few months. prior to the past few weeks, I haven't looked into SACD much at all.

Haha! Yeah! I spend ages finding out if I could mod my old Sony or have it modded. The short answer is no way! I kinda gave up on SACDs after that and seeing the price of the PS audio one that would output over I2S to my DAC! A blu ray player always felt kinda messy with really needing a TV connected to work it properly. I might pick up a Sony one at some point to rip the SACDs that I haven’t been able to get “totally legitimately sourced” DSD downloads of. It can dual duty as an actual blu ray player for my second tv.

 

[Angsty]

I picked up a 5 SACD changer this weekend for $20 in a local charity shop. got a few cheap SACDs as well to give it a test and see if I may want to go down the SACD rabbit hole...might just stick with streaming but was kinda curious about the sound overall.

A five disc SACD changer? I'm green with envy ... I've never seen one! I just recently purchased a new 6 disc CD changer to replace my 15 year old NAD changer. Turns out the NAD changer was okay; was just being intermittently grumpy for a few weeks. Now I have two !

Would have bought a SACD changer if I had known.

 

[MikeH]

A five disc SACD changer? I'm green with envy ... I've never seen one! I just recently purchased a new 6 disc CD changer to replace my 15 year old NAD changer. Turns out the NAD changer was okay; was just being intermittently grumpy for a few weeks. Now I have two !

Would have bought a SACD changer if I had known.

It’s this one:

Sony DVP-NC80V (Black)

5-disc DVD/CD/SACD changer

www.crutchfield.com

No frills really but the 5 disc got me to bite on it haha. I’m sure the NAD is better

 

[Angsty]

is this the right place to discuss MoFi?




ok...please put the knives away

The SACDs and Gold CDs? Sure.

My favorite MoFi Gold CD is Art Blakey's "Night in Tunsia". I've owned it *ahem* many years and is noticeably better than the stock CD version I have. I don't think it's the gold; it's the re-mastering.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - A Night In Tunisia

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1994 CD release of "A Night In Tunisia" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

 

[Angsty]

It’s this one:

Sony DVP-NC80V (Black)

5-disc DVD/CD/SACD changer

www.crutchfield.com

No frills really but the 5 disc got me to bite on it haha. I’m sure the NAD is better

I really do like my new Integra 6 disc. It doesn't do SACD, but it's nicely designed. I really don't need my external DAC to make this player sound good.

Integra CDC-3.4

6-disc CD changer

www.crutchfield.com