bigbrother52

I'm not getting 24/192 from my 2010 Mac Mini via HDMI, I get everything up to and including 176k, just no 192k! Can there be some sort of a driver problem? Anything I plug it into is capable of 192k. 192k doesn't show in Audio Midi set-up nor does it indicate as available in Audirvana. Running 10.6.8 with 8gb memory Any ideas what might be wrong? Thanks

Good suggestion! It's pretty clear that my need is now far greater then this dual core processor can comfortably handle. I had to give this great little computer my best shot when A+ arrived with it's multi-channel, hi-rez capabilities. I think I've done that now, with the help of various people here and on other forums and it seems like it's time to move forward. I actually did look on the Apple website at the refurbs as you suggested and I know that stuff must constantly change. I don't want to take up much space in this thread with questions about machines but what I saw there looked reasonable....to me. So my one question will be, would the Mini's server version of the machine be a suitable replacement? It had twin 1tb drives installed with an i7 & 4gb of RAM and looks like a decent deal. I realize A+ is trying to shut down or get beneath as much of the OS X as possible and this version of machine would add a whole other level of software. I imagine that the server software could probably be completely removed or not installed to begin with. Otherwise, I'm guessing the two machines are probably identical. Given that you and the guys here pretty much know what I'm trying to accomplish with playback and how, does this machine fill the bill for what I require? I like the Mini's form factor and the way they work. The sound with A+ is no doubt as good or better then much of the custom building of computers I see many audiophiles trying to do. I think I pretty much know what the drawbacks are of using a Mini in an audiophile setup and I'm willing to look past that stuff considering it probably won't stay in the system nearly as long as most of the other components anyway, just like my current Mini. So if that machine gets along well with A+ and is capable of playing multi-channel SACD ISO's with ease, while still sounding exceptional, then it's probably something I should seriously consider. Thanks

Exactly my concern with switching versions of OS X! It does work right now on 10.6.8 OS X without additional drivers (of which I know nothing about) to the extent that I've already stated, but essentially, without Direct Mode in use, it doesn't sound exceptional. It does sound fairly exceptional, (much better then I expected with the last update), for multi-channel music coming from such a little computer especially since transmitted via HDMI and utilizing a lowly dual core processor. I do believe that most other audio programs currently available require more then a dual core processor to decode 5.1 channels directly from an SACD ISO. I think it's a pretty remarkable task to accomplish well with just a dual core but A+ can do it, albeit, with this quirk at time of sample rate change. I've checked, the processor is working very hard but it does manage, at least with the version of OS X currently installed. I personally have not tried any other player that can decode 5.1 from SACD ISO's but have been told I probably wouldn't reach the benchmark. I should probably take the chance anyway as I should probably be able to restore the version of OS X I'm currently running from disk and a whole lot of updating. My Mini is also a dual boot machine with Windows 7 installed via Bootcamp. Now I'm no computer geek, so all of this would be an awful lot of work for me, and I don't have Apple's support anymore. I probably spent a solid 2 weeks on the phone when I setup these laptops and the Mini the way they are. A little nervous I guess to try the new OS X and find that the dual core processor is completely overwhelmed and can't decode 5.1 channels from an SACD's ISO anymore. Then, to attempt to put the Mini back in it's current state without help might be a nightmare. Or, maybe it's just a simple thing to do. I've only ever had to do anything of this sort just the one time before.

Well, OK then, played with settings all night long and now the suns risen already..... I did find some sort of a solution, although I gotta say, it's not one I expected (never is I guess) and one that I'm not real happy about, so hopefully there's another way outta this mess, but for now this is the story. I control my entire system with iRule, CB-III HD Surround Sound Processor, Gen. VIII DAC, power amps, everything, totally and completely. I have all kinds of feedback from the processors which includes of all things "sample rates" from each type of processor. So, I don't know why I never noticed before tonight that the sample rate was indeed switching along with all the track loading and everything else described above. There was the proof, sitting right in my hand! While it was still true that the new track will not start when the sample rate changes, the plain and simple fact is that the sample rate does unquestionably change. So, I have to eliminate that as a problem. Now to find the actual problem, the one and only problem, getting the new track to start after the sample rate changes. So I uncheck one by one the only 3 boxes that the manual really recommends to leave checked as that's where A+ sounds it's best. Low and behold, unfortunately for me, the one box that instantly fixes the problem is removing A+ from "Direct Mode" :-( The single most important thing that gets right to the root of the music! If that new Mac software is the solution, then I'm on it. But if that's not the real fix for my problem, what is? I am not reading here about people that have this box unchecked. Perhaps I've missed all of those posts. So can anyone tell me, is or has "Direct Mode" been the cause of problems to anyone else's late 2010 Mac Mini/8gb RAM? And if so, did the change of OS X to the latest version correct the issue? I will say, without reservation or hesitation that for the short time I've now heard A+ without "Direct Mode" checked, that I'd much rather up and down sample everything to 96k and let the hardware and software deal with the sample rate issues, or make playlists in all sample rates with a singular rate for each one rather then leave "Direct Mode" unchecked! There's gotta be a better way to solve this issue! And BTW my friend, I had changed "Sample Rate Switching Latency" before and already knew this was not the problem here, but of course everything is worth at least two shots so played with it again but to no avail. I also know that I'm running in 64 bit already, so that too should not be the problem. So what is it that would force me to run without "Direct Mode" enabled? Any takers for this rather important question? Thanks again for suggestions, at least the problem has been narrowed down now and might have a specific answer. And, hopefully one I can live with.

Well, thanks for the suggestion, but I just gave that a shot and marked off "None" under Forced Upsampling while I was at it and no change in the way A+ performs. It still, changed track, showed new track & showed the sample rate change correctly but just sits at the beginning of the new track until I hit stop, A+ releases the computer and I hit play the new track again. Only then will all become well. So it's back to the custom settings being set for just about everything to play at 96k, where everything mostly plays nice with each other for all the 5.1 material. For straight 2 channel that's 176 or 192k in particular, I'm going out of my way to manually reset those sample rates when need be. But major draw to A+ for me was the automatic sample rate change and the upgrade for multi-channel hi-rez playback. I'm sorta happy on the one hand that this was not the fix I needed because I believe it would be a great loss to me to have kept it set like. So, since you seem to have tried at least 2 versions of OS X with A+, would you be so kind as to tell me, are there any particular positives or negatives associated with running a newer version of OS X then I currently employ, in regards to the way it sounds or works with music & A+? I imagine you realize that I have no interest in the parts of these programs that will instantly post to Facebook what I'm listening to at the moment, or like the Audiogate program I tried, which Tweets every single track you've converted from DSD to anything else using their program. So, other then the fact that the newer OS X may or may not make my A+ work the way it was intended to, by automatically switching sample rates, is anything else they've done to it of any import. Once more, thanks in advance. And, I'm still open to any other suggestions from anyone!

Back on July 9th, post 22 of this thread I posted that the new version of A+ at the time did not automatically switch between sample rates when moving from track to track. There has been a couple of new versions since then but my result is still exactly the same. When a track change occurs and the new track has a sample rate different from the prior tracks sample rate, I see A+ change to the new track, I see A+ load the new track, I see A+ recognizes that there was a change in sample rate, but it just sits there at the beginning of the new track and never starts playback. I've read that people have experienced pops, clicks or ticks when their sample rate automatically changes and at this point I'd be quite happy with that sort of a result. Unfortunately, my only option to continue music playback appears to be that I need to hit stop, wait for A+ to release the computer and then hit play again on the new track with the new sample rate, it then plays the correct sample rate....until the next change of sample rate is required and everything just stops again. I have a late 2010 Mac Mini running 10.6.8 with 8gb ram and external drives. I'm currently outputting the Mac via HDMI to an external Video Processor. The Video Processor then outputs Digital Coax to my Theta Gen. VIII series 3 DAC for the front 2 channels of 5.1 DSD converted to PCM The VP simultaneously feeds via HDMI the rest of the 5.1 signal to a CB-III HD surround sound processor. It all works and sounds just great, except for the fact that when a sample rate change occurs music playback from the Mac & A+ just ceases to function. Does anybody have the slightest clue as to why this might be? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I should also mention that it functions exactly the same way whether in integrated iTunes mode or not. Either way, same exact result! Thanks in Advance

Hi Ted If you would not mind, I can use the software to extract the (5.1 & 2 Channel) tracks from my SACD ISO's and any literature that might go along with it. I'm using a Mac-Mini if that makes any difference. Thanks In Advance

I won't say that "iTunes Integrated Mode" is completely broken but nor does it work entirely right for me with 1.5.4, let me explain. I'm running a Mac Mini with OS X 10.6.8, mostly I have several thousand tracks of SACD rips allot of those in WAVE the balance in Apple Lossless format from when I was solely running iTunes, of course there are also many 44.1, 96 & 192k tracks in iTunes as well. Due to A+'s capability of DSD to PCM conversion on the fly with SACD ISO's, now I'm using several hundred SACD ISO's sampled at 176. The problem I'm having is this, if I open A+ to a 176 SACD ISO listed in iTunes it plays fine until it gets to a 44.1 or other differently sampled track. I watch the track load, I see all the info in the A+ screen but it never plays and I'm forced to shut it down and reopen it to that 44.1 or some 96k track. Again it plays fine until another track with a different sample rate pops up and everything comes to a grinding halt once more and it's shut down, re-open, select and play. I found last night that if I have every sample rate set to up-sample to 176 then it appears that it will probably play continuously all month long. I'm sure the use of up-sampling for a lot of folks out there is just fine but I'd prefer if everything that was in iTunes actually switched to it's native sampling rate. A thing that A+ is supposed to do and one of the major things that attracted me to it, since being the fanatic that I am I'd been going into the MIDI settings and manually switching the sample rate when required. Perhaps I've missed something that should be set differently but I'd sure like to get this thing working properly if at all possible.