MacMini Music Server Guide

**med_designer** · 06-16-2012, 09:42 PM

Would anyone be interested in a guide to turn a MacMini into a dedicated music server. The main focus would be replacing it's stock HDD with and SSD. It would also focus on getting Snow Leopard properly installed on a 2011 MacMini 5,3 for those of us who would like to have integer mode. I would also include the terminal commands or a BASH shell script that could run all the common commands in one go.

I had started writing the guide and was going to screen cast the prepping of the SSD drive so when it went into the Mini it was good to go. All you would need to do is turn it on configure your library and the playback software of your choice. Also would there be any specific areas or topics folks might be interested in.

This guide would be provided free as a PDF with links to relevant videos I make myself or others that I have collected that are useful for this project.

Yes, I have heard Mountain Lion has or well have integer mode back but SL has it and we know it works.

**joeinid** · 06-16-2012, 10:42 PM

Hi med_designer,

Any help is greatly appreciated. How/when would you make the guide available?

Thanks!

Joe

**wgscott** · 06-16-2012, 10:52 PM

Please feel free to make use of any of my shell scripts (they are zsh, but apart from that, should be transparent).

**Paul.Raulerson** · 06-16-2012, 11:07 PM

I would simply note that SL is going to be difficult to support in another year or two. Might make more sense to build with Mountain Lion. It would be a great thing to have when Mountain Lion reaches GA in a month or so from now.

Paul

**mwheelerk** · 06-16-2012, 11:09 PM

Integer Mode in Audivrana Plus is working well (at least for me) on Lion and Damien has stated that it will be active and supported in Mountain Lion also. That point doesn't take away from your effort which I applaud.

**med_designer** · 06-17-2012, 01:04 PM

Thanks for all the input -

1. Agree about support on Snow Leopard and if integer mode in Mountain Lion is supported then it might be a good way to go. I could put the developer version on the SSD and report results.

2. When would it be available> i was planning on doing the work this week. Just waiting for the SSD to get here which should be Monday June 18th. With luck a week or two.

**med_designer** · 06-17-2012, 01:08 PM

Hi - thanks for the offer. What would be the best way to check out your scripts?

Richard

**wgscott** · 06-17-2012, 01:11 PM

I'll do it. I should have been more explicit -- I am happy to help.

http://sage.ucsc.edu/downloads/shell...audiophool.zsh

I have a blog post where I was starting to add to this. I have to re-read it.

The function syntax is slightly different for zsh. But if you like shell scripting, you might want to try zsh. It is the most fun I have ever had with my clothes on, at least with shell scripting.

**JJJ** · 06-17-2012, 01:16 PM

I would love to see this. I am currently thinking about adding a Mac Mini to my system for both audio and video (my old DVD library). Were I to just want audio I'd simply add a Bryston BDP-1 but the chance to get rid of all my DVDs that are littering the living room and place them in a storage unit makes a Mac Mini setup preferable.

As a newbie to computer-based audio, can I ask what "integer mode" is and why it's important/desirable? I'd also like to know why an internal SSD would be preferred over an external one (or multiple SSD).

JJJ

**Win M.** · 06-23-2012, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by JJJ

I would love to see this. I am currently thinking about adding a Mac Mini to my system for both audio and video (my old DVD library). Were I to just want audio I'd simply add a Bryston BDP-1 but the chance to get rid of all my DVDs that are littering the living room and place them in a storage unit makes a Mac Mini setup preferable.

As a newbie to computer-based audio, can I ask what "integer mode" is and why it's important/desirable? I'd also like to know why an internal SSD would be preferred over an external one (or multiple SSD).

JJJ

I'll bump this; I'm pretty new to this, and was planning on buying a Mini, attaching a couple external drives to it, feeding a W4S DAC2, and calling it a day. I've read a lot of references to integer mode, but can't find an explanation of what that is.

**Jolida** · 07-03-2012, 04:06 AM

Where can I download the guide from..??

**Sam Lord** · 07-07-2012, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by Win M.

I'll bump this; I'm pretty new to this, and was planning on buying a Mini, attaching a couple external drives to it, feeding a W4S DAC2, and calling it a day. I've read a lot of references to integer mode, but can't find an explanation of what that is.

Bumped again.

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps with the questions below.

1) Can the latest mac mini with latest OSX achieve integer mode?

2) When and why does this matter? What outputs are affected? Does it mean the latest MM is now incapable of USB async output? Does the current OSX Server do integer mode?

Obviously I haven't used a Mac for many years...

3) Configuration: I know the questions below are particular to my needs, but many people are in the same boat. After all maybe a quarter of the members here use Mac Minis now:

So... most people say to get the base version, add memory. Good. I have about 500GB of music on a 1TB USB3 drive. To use async USB, must I disconnect *everything* else from USB ports? Should I get the 750GB 7200 rpm drive option in the MM? That ought to be louder than the standard 5400rpm 500GB drive; problem? What is louder, fan or drive? Should I simply put an external FW drive in another room (drill a hole in the wall) to keep the MM quieter? Just how quiet is the the base model of the new MM, provided I do everything to minimize its processor load?

I'm about to get a server. Many people say the MM is a fine machine, and the price is certainly good. There is apparently very fine software like Audirvana to make it sound as good as possible using memory playback, etc. I also need to get a economical but solid DAC, perhaps a Bifrost, which will serve for a couple of years until several matters become clearer like the state of DSD downloads. I am building a first-rate playback system*, but don't want to pour funds into hardware that won't last.

*Vertically biamping ATC 2-ways, each mounted above velodyne dd12+ subs, building Hypex ncore amps to feed the ATCs, and eventually getting a monster preamp and DAC like the Mola-Mola, Invicta, or NAD M51, more.

**Sam Lord** · 07-07-2012, 04:39 PM

To pay for advice here are some albums I like; so many folks here with great musical taste:
Jordi Savall+Weiland Kuijken/St. Colombe, Astree E 8743
Dylan and the Dead
Chieftains/Reel Music
Inti-Illimani/Leyenda, also Canto de Pueblos Andinos
Leo Kottke/Essential
Mark O'Connor/Heroes
Norman Blake/Blackberry Blossom
Bo Diddley/Bo Diddley
Garcia and Grisman

**Sam Lord** · 07-08-2012, 08:58 PM

Ahh, finally found answers from Gordon Rankin on another thread to the questions here:

Originally Posted by Sam Lord

...Thanks in advance to anyone who helps with the questions below.

1) Can the latest mac mini with latest OSX achieve integer mode?

2) When and why does this matter? What outputs are affected? Does it mean the latest MM is now incapable of USB async output? Does the current OSX Server do integer mode?

3) Configuration: I know the questions below are particular to my needs, but many people are in the same boat. After all maybe a quarter of the members here use Mac Minis now...

Gordon said [edited]:

Originally Posted by Wavelength

Gang, First this is not integer mode this is bit perfect. There are a ton of applications out there that can give you this:

Amarra, Decibel, PureMusic, Audivana, even iTunes if set up correctly.

Using Foobar and ASIO is a huge mistake. ASIO in many cases does kill the bit true output of Foobar and for some reason changes the sound. I would suggest using WASAPI mode with Foobar or if you want better results use JRiver with Event Style WASAPI.

Integer mode is when a program reads a flat PCM file like WAV or AIFF and then without touch the data outputs this to the DAC. Applications can do this with any operating system if they write directly to the KEXT (unix term for device driver). In the Apple Audio stack the ability for integer mode did exist in Snow but was taken out for Lion because of a number of reasons. Mostly bug reports in regards to buffering and other issues. The alternative is the same for Linux, OSX and Windows is to use Float32 for samples. That is that each sample is converted to floating point 32 bit (24x8) and used inside the OS. Now this is fine and Bit True for 24 bit data but not 32 bit data as nothing would be bit true. This is the same problem for all operating systems. But again, applications can open and use a device interface if they choose to do so.

A little note on the current state of integer mode in Lion... ...While I would like to see it re-introduced, they did give us ways of accomplishing the task.

Also this:

Originally Posted by Wavelength

...I think the other improvements in Lion make it sound better than Snow with integer mode.

**DanRubin** · 07-09-2012, 10:06 AM

Sam, you mention installing Snow Leopard on a Mini 5,3. Is there a reason 5,3 is recommended as opposed to 5,1?

**Sam Lord** · 07-09-2012, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by DanRubin

Sam, you mention installing Snow Leopard on a Mini 5,3. Is there a reason 5,3 is recommended as opposed to 5,1?

Dan, are you thinking of someone else? I've only spoken about an imminent decision to get a new MM; others have dealt with older OSs and older MMs.
Best wishes

**DanRubin** · 07-09-2012, 04:34 PM

Yes, sorry about that. I meant to direct that comment to the OP, med_designer.

**Sam Lord** · 07-09-2012, 11:36 PM

No worries! But to finally address the OP's request, or rather add to it:

I want to sometimes add to my network's music collection. Let's say I'm loading a new disc to copy to the HD in my MM and/or a fatter external HD. If I'm running Audirvana and I have a MM feeding, say, a Bifrost DAC in direct and integer modes like a proper audiophile, what happens to my sound? I'll have a fat HD drive with all my music on my firewire port and an optical drive in a USB port, which the DAC should not share. Do my direct and integer modes switch to something else, does music still play, and do I need to unplug the optical drive to restore those precious modes? Unplugging even USB drives is something one might often forget.

Since SQ is the central appeal of the best MM music software, I want to understand how such operations affect the music. By all accounts Damien is doing great work, but a guide to *musical* operation of the Mac Mini would be priceless. I haven't looked at Pure Music's handling of the issue yet.

Alternatively I could take the PC route. Imagine this very quiet box ("Qube") from ADK in your system, with 500 watts and many extras at your disposal. It could run that GFLOPS-gobbling software that the Phasure likes without a hiccup. And no bloatware. But it's much bigger than the MM:

ADK Pro Audio PC, Laptops, Digital Audio workstations for Nuendo, Cubase, Sonar, Samplitude

So again I urge somebody else

to create an MM music server manual.

**gregroe** · 08-31-2012, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by med_designer

Thanks for all the input -

1. Agree about support on Snow Leopard and if integer mode in Mountain Lion is supported then it might be a good way to go. I could put the developer version on the SSD and report results.

2. When would it be available> i was planning on doing the work this week. Just waiting for the SSD to get here which should be Monday June 18th. With luck a week or two.

Did I miss the final product? Is there a link somewhere. I was truly looking forward for direction, as I'm putting together a mini/server system myself

**med_designer** · 09-02-2012, 03:41 PM

I never finished the guide as work became very busy and was taking up a good deal of my time. I was going down the road of installing Snow Leopard on a 2011 Mac Mini and had mixed results. I ended up reverting back Lion and will be putting Mountain Lion on it in the future. I can tell you what my setup is which is fairly simple:

1. Bought new MAc Mini and replaced internal HDD with an OWC 6G 60GB SSD.
2. Installed 8GB of RAM
3. When doing an internet restore of the OS I only installed the base OS and no addition applications from Apple.
4. Attached an external FW 800 drive. I used 2 2.5" 500 HDDs I had lying around for the music library.
5. I use iTunes to catalog everything and keeping nice and orderly.
4. I also installed the music player of choice for me which is Amarra. I have not really tired the other players extensively. My friends and I played the same set of songs through several players and we each choose Amarra as the one we liked best.
5. Control everything from my MacBook Air.
6. USB out to my DAC and onto the rest of the system

Note on Amarra:

While I use iTunes for cataloging I have gravitated to using the Amarra playlist. I have tried directly playing out of iTunes and it works, but, I do encounter the occasional chopped of beginning or end of a song. This does not happen for me in playlist mode so this is what I use. I have also recently moved back to listening to albums as a whole so this process works well for me overall.

Sorry for dropping the ball on the manual. If you have any specific questions I might be able to answer I would be happy to help out where I can.

Richard in Nashville

**gregroe** · 09-05-2012, 01:36 AM

Thank you for the help and direction. You helped me a lot just in that last post. I've been going back and forth on weather to buy new or used.

**bluemark81** · 10-16-2012, 05:18 PM

Complete newbie here in setting up a music server using a mac mini with optical drive with 2.4 GHZ core 2 duo processor 320 gig hard drive and 8 gigs of ram running Mountain Lion. I already have an extensive iTunes library created from my CD's ripped as uncompressed WAV files on my macbook pro. I also have a few hi-rez FLAC files downloaded from HD Tracks also on my pro. I plan on using a HiFace USB/SPDIF interface from the mini's USB to a Bryston BDA-1 DAC's SPDIF input. I would like to control the music remotely using both my macbook pro (Lion) and my iPod Touch 4th gen. (and possibly an iPad). Because I don't have a clue what I'm getting into, I need some help in setting this up properly to get the highest possible quality of sound with a user interface that will provide the best ease of operation. My network is through a Time Machine. I will need to first have some advice on how to transfer my music over to the mini. I am actually not totally clueless, but I certainly need to be provided with detailed guidance in setting this up so any help will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

ps. I forgot to mention that I also have Songbird and BitPerfect installed on my pro.

**crimsondonkey** · 12-16-2012, 07:48 AM

Richard, I note that you have a MacBook Air in addition to your now modded Mac Mini. Have you compared the sonic output of each, especially with the Air running off battery?

**musimarine** · 02-04-2013, 08:45 PM

I noticed there are two Mac mini upgrading service website: core audio and mojo audio.
Last week I listened the mojo version 2 linear power supply modified Mac mini 2011 version which equipped with Audiophilleo 2 pure power . I compared it with my own 2011 Mac mini withAPPP ,found the PSU very effective and positive.

Does anybody know any one of the above both? Who is better?

**wgscott** · 02-04-2013, 10:58 PM

Maybe we should start a wiki and if it is successful hand it over to Chris.

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