onehotchili

i just got one of the new Mac Mini's (aluminum one) up and running in my system. i have only given it a few minutes, and i need to run out to do some errands, but the sound seems more constricted and compressed compared to my previous black MacBook that it was replacing. i have an SSD in my MacBook and i will probably put one in the Mini (for the OS), but this is surprising to me. my music is being stored on an external drive fed via FireWire 800. i don't have golden ears, and have a "standard" Benchmark USB Dac, directly into Fi 2A3 Single Ended Triodes and Cain & Cain Abbey Speakers. this is strictly a 2 channel system, but it definitely feels less airy and open. i'll fiddle with things later... but just wondering if anyone has noticed anything similar?

For the last couple of years, I have been running a Black MacBook (4Mb RAM & 64Gb internal SSD + 750Gb external HD with my iTunes music) for a dedicated music server. This is connected via USB to a Benchmark DAC and directly into my Fi 2A3 amps + Cain & Cain Abbeys. A pretty fun simple setup! Lately my kids have been asking for a laptop of their own and so I've been thinking about a headless Mac Mini as my music server and maybe an iPad as the Remote Client and giving them the MacBook? I'd probably throw 4Mb RAM and a 64Gb SSD into the Mini to keep that the same (maybe get a refurbed or used one to keep costs down on a dedicated music only iTunes server). I searched around to see if anyone has played around with the Mini/iPad setup... and saw some related posts. Just wondering if anyone did this type of switch or goofing around with this type of setup...