henrylance

Thanks Shenzi for the comments. At this time the Mac Mini is now the main computer for the house. As I posted above it’s not the stock unit. All I can say is I am impressed with the fusion drive. It has proven to me to be faster than the current middle of the road Imac I had here for a week. I did pick up a used Thunderbolt display on Craig’s list, and WOW> all that being said, I may still go back to an Imac desk top in late Oct when Apple will announce the Imac upgrades that are in the pipeline. Then the Mac Mini may then go to the music system. I have found some small monitors, and do have a one here but it needs a stand ( seems best buy likes to not include the stands ). The better route may be to just gut my 2010 macbook pro, and put in an all SSD drive big enough to hold all my physical music. The used value of even a like new, low usage 2010 macbook pro is pretty bad these days. With the macbook dedicated only to music, there would be nothing to screw things up. I still would like to find a decent VNC program that will react smoother than the ones I have tried. Actually the size of the Ipad is probably the problem. Actually a larger Android tablet using a VNC program, or maybe a Microsoft Surface Pro, with the bigger screen may be a better way to go. Since a DAC unit has to be in the mix anyway, I still lean towards the Apple TV for casual listing off the internet, and youtube’ing, or Wolfgang’s Vault. Then there are days that I just sit back and drop a sharp pointy think onto a black disk that is spinning around and …..

Thanks for the replies. No really easy way that I can see. Like using my Ipad with Air Play, and Apple TV. I picked up a Mac Mini new ( 2014 ) with 2.6 processor, fusion drive, and 16 gig of memory, for a very good price privately in sealed box, and unregistered. I was planning to use it as the household computer, but prefer the all in one Imac, so I now have a Mac Mini.. I know that the late Mac Mini’s 2012 and older are in high demand, since they can be reworked, but thought what the heck. I had used my Apple MackBook 13 inch for a server for a while with just a simple USB dac, and placed all of my hard media on the hard drive, until I ran out of space. Only problem is that it seemed that one would be always having to reset parameters and fuss around with settings etc. Debates will go on forever about the sound of this and the sound of that, and I to did that for over 40 yrs, and knew some of the very best designers, but now as time moves on it would be nice to just have a simple way to retrieve music. I’m lucky that I have a wife that loves music also, but as we age, I need a setup that is easy to use. Seems that the industry has failed in that camp. I do find myself streaming and you tubing much more these days, simply because the wide verity of performances that are not on media of any kind. So many of them are unique in there own way. Perfect sound, no but the performance ………. I have tried using VNC and control programs with my Ipad and Laptop. They work ok, but the inter face is usually slow and awkward. I suppose that I could use a 15 inch HDMI display I have here that is brand new on the Mac Mini. I purchased it 3 yrs back just for that use. Best Buy was really great, they forgot the stand mound, and I never opened up the box till last week. Probably can make a nice one out of Maple or Oak. Guess I might just gut the MacBook and replace the HD with SSD drive, and up the RAM, and put in a new battery and use it for hard media storage and playback, and then get a Apple TV for streaming etc. Just need to find a DAC that has both USB and Optical Inputs. Thanks for the help.

Hello, I see a lot of mention on the internet about people using the Apple Mac Mini as a music server. Sounds good, I like the idea … but how would one use the Mac Mini, with out a monitor ?? I have used the Apple MacBook, and it does a nice job, but I can control it from the laptop keyboard and display. I can also do a VNc, with my Ipad, but it is slow. With out a display or keyboard how can it be done. ?? Henry Lance