calkid123

Just buy a basic 2011 Mac Mini, and upgrade the ram, and you are good to go. Just my opinion. Oh, and a quality dac.

(as an aside; someone told me I could connect the mac mini directly to my dac with toslink output...so now I am kind of considering trying that instead of the vlink just to compare) I am using toslink into my dac. Let us know your findings.

I must say going from 2mg of ram to 8mg is worth the $45-$50 investment. Scrolling through the internet the pages fly, but I do not here a difference in audio. Crucial ram is a good quality ram. I have also read that SSD might not make a difference. The standard mac mini is pretty quiet. I never hear the spinning drive no matter how quiet I might listen to my music, even between passages.

I have just upgraded from 2gb to 8gb of ram also. I hear no difference in sound quality, and my equipment is up to the task where I usually hear miner differences from tweaks. Nice to know I have 8gb though.

I use the standard mac mini 2011 with 2.3 gig and 2 mg of ram. I have noticed every change in sound with all my equipment upgrades. Moving up the audio chain in many preamps, amps, cables, 20 amp dedicated breakers, acoustical paneling, cd players, dacs, etc,etc. I use my mac mini as a music server with excellent results. I just recently added 8 mg of ram to the mini. I listened to music the last couple of days, and I hear no difference in sound quality. I believe my system is up to the task. For description of my equipment and a little music, my u- tube videos is calkid1234, or type in McIntosh Audio/Martin Logan. This music video was before I owned a mac mini. You are listening to the music through a Wadia 171i iPod dock with a digital input cable to the dac in my MCD 500 cd player. iTunes recorded music in the wav or lossless format on my iPod.

I just ordered 8 GB of Memory to replace my 2 GB Memory in my 2011 Mac Mini. The cost is only $50 delivered. I do not think I will notice any difference since I only use the mac mini as a music server.

I am using my Mac Mini as a music server only with 2GB. I have about close to 6000 song on the hard drive in the wav and lossless format. I shut down the mini and restart about every 10 days to regain memory. I have not experenced any problems. I have been debating whether to add memory or not.

I use the standard 2011 mac mini with 2GB of ram and have not experienced any problems. I have never reached all of my memory. I shut down the computer and restart about every 7-10 days to gain more memory. I have about 5800 songs on the hard drive. If you use the mini just for music and surfing the net, and internet radio you will have no problems at all.

I was told not to shut down the computer with the power button. Use the mouse and on screen display to do this. I only shut down and restart the computer about every 10 days or so. It is okay to leave the computer on 24/7.

If after 15 to 20 minutes my tv shuts off, is it still affecting the quality of sound having the screen setting to on, on the mini? I doubt my ears will be able to hear that difference. But I have gone to all lengths, to get the best quality sound, including two dedicated 20amp non arching circuit breakers, and all balanced system, with quality wiring throughout.

Yes it is. I have a wireless mouse and keyboard. What is really cool is to set up your screen saver with all your album artwork. Set up two hot corners so if you drag your mouse or track pad to beyond the bottom corners of the screen the screen saver comes on immediately and you can click on any album cover and that album plays. The artwork album cover also rotates at what ever speed you select. You can also select the amount of cover art across the screen and vertically also. Apple care will walk you through this. I use my mini for music only. I also have an i-mac in my office so I can screen share, since the only thing on the hard drive on the mini is my 5700 plus songs. Have fun with this.

I am using the 2011 mac mini. HDMI to the tv. Optical to the dac. Apple I touch with the remote app. You should have no problem using the hdmi for video only.

This is what I feel is the best way to run the cables for music. The hdmi to your monitor and the optical to a high quality dac rather than a receiver. Forget 5.1. Just my opinion.

I have been lurking for quite some time now. Thanks to all of you I just purchased the Mac Mini for my music server. The music quality sounds better than my Wadia 171i transport. I am going optical out to my McIntosh MCD500 sacd player. The dac is very good in that player. Music files are iTunes in the wav and lossless formats. Ron

I am new to this forum. I been lurking for quite some time. I have learned alot and just purchased a Mac Mini thanks to all of you. Great music server. You must have a great wife. If I gave my significant other a AVR she would be out the door.