perister

Hi many thanks for all your replies:) what about Mytek 192 DSD DAC it would nicely fit into the budget, and it does not require an external PSU any thoughts for this?

The chord Qute looksinteresting, but will it be a noticeable improvement vs my Ciunas DAC? again I am going only to use the USB input, and I see that the Chord offers all the usual inputs, so I am wondering if I will pay for features I am not going to use. also it looks like the Chord would need sooner or later an after market L PSU, while with my current DAC this is not a problem as it it powered by a rechargeable battery. any thoughts? thanks!

Hello, I am currently using a JK Ciunas DAC and I am very happy with it, but as with all things related to HiFi I am looking for possible upgrade. requirement is that the DAC is USB only, as I will not use it with any source other than a Mac Mini, so I do not want to spend money for unnecessary functionality. Budget aprox 1500 GBP (or the equiv in USD) rest of the system is a Musical Fidelity M6i intergated and Harbeth HL5 plus speakers I ma looking for a meaningful upgrade, not one that will be hardly noticeable! thanks in advance for your replies Nikos

I will try this, and report back so the thickness of the cable is expected to make a difference, right?

currently I am using a 4 strands of 26AWG solid pure silver cable, direcly soldered to the main board wire conector what I am asking is if there is anything substantial to gain if I change this conection with something else (these cables were already expensive!!!) many thanks again:)

the mPSU is a good idea, but I already have the KECES PSU, so I need only to figure out the conection the impementations (i.e. jack or direct solder to the main board) does not bother me my questuon is what would rip the best of benefits in terms of sound quality thanks!

yes! I took out the internal SMPSU, and soldered the output of the external LPSU directly to the wires of the logic borard

Hello, I am running a mid 2011 Mac Mini into a JKenny Ciunas DAC, recently I decided to add an external PSU, and indeed it made a noticeable difference. My question is, what would be the best (in reasonable terms) way to connect the external PSU (btw, it is a KECES 12V 6A) to the mini currently I am using a 40 cm silver lintz cable, but it is really thin in diameter. is this advisable? any other recomendarion? thanks:)

Hi Tranz Very interesting Some photos would be very wellcome:) Br. Nikos

Update No2 I tried the 9pin to 4 Pin cable, along with a 4 pin to 9 pin adaptor, and no success:( the HDD is not visible by the Macmini, so I guess the power bus is needed for the 'handshake' between the Mac and the HDD so back to square 1.....

Quick update I tried to remove the power connectors ( no 6 and 9) from the stock 9 pin Firewire cable, and the most strange thing happened, while if I was trying to connect the 'stripped' end to the Macmini nothing was working, no power, I thought ok good, but even though I tried to power it via the wall wart, it was not visible by the Mac now when I tried to connect the intact end to the Mac strange thing is that it was working fine even without the power from the wall wart, very strange, where the power bus was getting through? I had removed the power designated pins.... then I tried to remove the corresponding pins from the other end as well, and then nothing was working,even with the wall wart, the HDD was not visible by the Mac. any idea how this could happen? now I am waiting for a replacement 9 pin cable, and a 9 to 4 pin plus a 4 to 9 pin so to remove the power bus that way lets see....

that looks like a complicated way to check it:) i.e. buying several conectors etc. what about the below 2 options: 1. try to remove the power pins from the plug? I did this in the USB plug and worked fine, but this si much more delicate! 2. try to just cut the power cables (these are black and red), is there any particular reason whhy I should not do that? many thanks! Nikos

Hi Tranz the only way I suppose is to use a Multimeter I think that it would be better anyway to ditch the wall wart and utilise the power from the Mobo, but still the best way would be via external LSPU. I will try to cut the power lines from the firewire cable (or remove the corresponding pins) and try again, will of course report back:)

Hi All this is my first post in the forum, I have been reading the Macmini CAPS thread and it is very impressive! I tried my own simplified version, only with external LPSU. My problem is that even though I tried to provide a LPSU 5V DC for my external Firewire HDD, it seems that the HDD is powered by the Macmini (via Mobo), that became obvious when I tried to measure the current, which was aprox 0.45A when the HDD when the Macmini was shut down, and dropped to zero when I powered it up. That says to me the HDD 'prefers' to be powered by the Macmini vs. the external LPSU. question now is, how do I change that? I thought to remove the power line from the Firewire cable, but is there any easier and safer way? Cheers, Nikos