Mac Mini music server

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Jack Flannery, Jul 28, 2014.

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  1. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    I'm about to pull the trigger on a Mini to use as a stand alone music server and have a couple of questions. It will not be used for any other computer tasks, unless I take up gaming at this point of my life. Which isn't likely.
    1) I will probably replace the slow hard drive with a SSD. Is this worth it? I know the price of these things is dropping like a rock so I might do it anyway.
    2) Is the core i5 sufficient or do you recommend the core i7. The difference is $200 or $300, which isn't a lot but it is something.

    I'll probably put 16gm of RAM in the thing straight off.
    Thanks.
     
  2. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    Don't need the i7 or 16GB (8 is plenty), but can't hurt. Streaming is pretty simple stuff, not a bunch of HP required. Best option (IMHO) would be the fusion drive. I works incredibly well and is simple to deal with. I have one I made myself on my old iMac that came with the 256SSD + 1TB drive. It's simple, but you do have to erase everything and load from scratch.

    Avoid the Server version unless you understand that it has two slow drives striped which is insane in a sever! I have three of them and reconfigured all to mirrors, but if I was doing it over I would have got the fusion instead.
     
  3. konoyaro

    konoyaro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA, USA
    If you just plan to use your iMac as a music server, I don't think the i7 is going to give you any real benefit.
    I currently have two MacMini music servers - one at home and one at work. One of them has an internal SSD while the other has a rotational external hard drive to store my audio files. Perhaps I'm not discriminating enough or my setup not as resolving as it should be but I don't hear an appreciable difference between to two. As a compromise, you might consider adding an external SSD drive to store your music library and run the OS off the HDD.
     
    IronWaffle likes this.
  4. roboss38

    roboss38 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Clovis, CA U.S.A.
    Mac mini's make great music servers. i5 processors should be more then sufficient for this purpose. Upping the RAM and going solid state are both good ideas. There is a lot of information at the Computer Audiophile website regarding Mac mini's used as music servers.
     
  5. ChadHahn

    ChadHahn Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ, USA
    I have a small internal SSD 120 GB that holds the OS and itunes and music software and not much else (in fact it has 103 GB free) and all my music is on an external firewire hard drive. I chose firewire, because my DAC is USB and I didn't want anything accessing USB when music is playing. The RAM is only 8GB. According to About this Mac, it's a late 2010 with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. For playing music a Core i5 will probably be fine.

    My mini is the last with an internal Superdrive which crapped out almost immediately so it isn't the latest and greatest but for playing music it does it's job. I got the one with the Superdrive because I hoped to have XLD running and be able to insert a disk, have it ripped and then add it to iTunes. The Fusion Drive sounds like a good all in one solution for holding the OS and music server software and the music.

    Chad
     
  6. konoyaro

    konoyaro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA, USA
    It's supposedly fixed now, but for a while there were audio playback issues specific to fusion drives in Mac CPUs. I'd research this fully before going that route IMHO.
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6421
     
  7. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Thanks a lot. I think I'll get the basic i5 Mini and add RAM and a SSD. I have a spare SSD laying around and it think OWC has RAM for $200 to upgrade to 16gm. I forgot to mention I'll be running a Synology NAS with it so the SSD will just be used for system and apps. If course I have an i7 Mini with a SSD in my office that is fully loaded. If I could only justify a Mac Pro for the office and take the Mini home. Hmm.

    XLD works great for the money. I need to send them a donation.
     
  8. shucky ducky

    shucky ducky Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona
    I would check out the 'do it your self videos' (like on OWC), for installing the SSD drive into a Mac Mini. I'm sure its do-able, it just looks rather intimidating. I'm not very skilled with tinkering so I ordered with the SSD pre installed. Installing the RAM is very easy though, and a great way to save a few dollars on the new Mini.
     
  9. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    Changing drives in the new mini's is not difficult, but tedious as hell as the machine has to come completely apart, but OWC does have great step by step videos and will even sell you a kit with all the correct tools. Seems like there is a goofy star head (not torx) that may be unusual to deal with, though I'm not remembering which machine it is.
     
  10. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    I think the i5 with SSD and 16 GB is the way to go. The i5 is more than sufficient. Eliminate spinning things that generate heat with the SSD. 8 GB works fine but why not future proof a little bit with 16.
     
  11. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    Agree, but always order the minimum from Apple. The Mini is crazy simple to add ram!!!
     
  12. Olias of Sunhill

    Olias of Sunhill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jim Creek, CO, USA
    I have an i5 with stock HDD and 8gb RAM. Bought as a refurb from Apple. It's been pure pleasure to use with no issues related to not having the TOTL processor or maxed out RAM.

    I will eventually upgrade to a SSD but haven't felt compelled to do so yet. Happy listening!
     
  13. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    A lot of people overestimate their ram needs. More is certainly better, but if you are not running big apps like virtualization or content creation, 8 is plenty on a Mac. OSX handles ram amazingly well. If you are new to Mac, you may look at ram usage in the Activity Monitor and think it's tapped out, but it rarely is and OSX will grab all your ram as buffers if it's unused. It will also compress ram to free it up when necessary.

    Ram is actually kinda pricey lately, so it might not be the best time to max out. I would order with 4GB and watch for when it comes down a bit.
    For that matter the Mini is LONG overdue for an update so it's a bit of a gamble to buy new right now, though the current machine is more than capable as music server!
     
    IronWaffle likes this.
  14. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    I have a Synology NAS, it IS the music server. I run Squeezebox server on it, but others are available also. Are you sure you even need the Mac? Is that your client?
     
  15. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Too late. Bought an i5 Mini. Ordered an 8gb stick of ram and have a spare SSD. Thanks to all for info.
     
    Olias of Sunhill likes this.
  16. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Wow - so similar but different. Yes to 8GB. Yes to 120GB SSD that holds the O/S. All my audio files are on an external USB drive because my DAC is connected over Firewire, and like you, I did not want anything on the same bus when music is playing. My Mini may be a 2012 unit.
     
    ChadHahn likes this.
  17. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    You really have a Metralla?
     
  18. attym

    attym Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    A slightly related hijack...

    I have a 2.0ghz core 2 Duo Mac Mini which has 2gb of ram (I can max to 3gb) and a 120gb hd.

    Any suggestions to make this work as a music server to play my 24/96 files? Will this run Amarra or Pure Music?
     
  19. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Ideally you want to upgrade memory to 8gb but replacing memory is easy. With that it should run Amarra or Pure fine.
     
  20. attym

    attym Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Max "supported" memory is 2GB, but Ive read it will max out at 4GB on my model which Ive ordered.
     
  21. BrewDrinkRepeat

    BrewDrinkRepeat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merchantville NJ
    For a music server I don't think you need either of those upgrades; even the slowest HD they might ship with the Mini is more than fast enough to play audio files. (If you were planning to use the machine as a multitrack DAW for a home studio then you'd want a faster HD, but you didn't mention anything remotely as taxing as that). Even the RAM upgrade is waste of money IMO for a simple music server.

    My iTunes machine is my old G4 (Quicksilver era, still running OS 10.4.x). The machine is slow as crap for the simplest of tasks, but absolutely no problems playing any audio at any res from iTunes, or streaming to the various Airport Express units I have around the property. (I sometimes have network issues with the AEx's as they are so old, but that's not the fault of the Mac that's feeding them which is wired to the router).

    My plan is to eventually replace the G4 with a used Mac Mini (as long as it has an Intel processor so I can get more current with my iTunes version), and I will be looking for the absolute cheapest one I can get. So, low RAM, standard HD, older processor... and I expect to have no problems with playing audio from iTunes.

    (Now just waiting for someone to jump in and recommend "audiophile RAM" or some other foolishness...;))
     
  22. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Check out these guys.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/mac_mini/intel
     
  23. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    4gb would be pushing it in my experience in terms of good sonic performance...
     
  24. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    My mini is a i5 with only 2gb ram 500gb HDD and its been nearly trouble free. I only notice issues with 192/24 PCM files, anything smaller plays without problem. 192/24 will occasionally "pause" for a moment and then continue, buffering? As I only have two albums at 192/24 its really not an issue. 96/24 plays without issue. I run the mini headless as a wireless server for other network users and it is hardwired for my primary audio system; control from iPad, iPhone and screen share from Macbook.


    My Macbook pro i7 has no problems with the 192/24 files in my collection.
     
  25. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Sadly no - but I owned several when I was younger as well as an Alpina, a Pursang and a Matador, into which I fitted a Metralla engine. I loved the Bultacos.
     
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