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I ordered the cheapest Mac Mini today and I plan on getting a LaCie 250 gig firewire HD -- the one that looks just like the Mini and stacks with the Mini.Now, I just gotta figure out how I'm going to get the digital bits out of the Mini and into my stereo. I guess I'll either get a USB DAC, or get a USB to S/Pdif device and a separate DAC.
I sure would appreciate hearing about some less expensive ways to do all of that -- probably $600 or less. I've been reading up on this stuff but I hear lots of options and no definitive way to do this. And the info changes pretty frequently too. So, discussions about this from 6 to 9 months ago may not really apply any more.
What's the concensous now?
Squeezebox?
Airport Express and a cheap DAC?
Others????
Follow Ups:
The Nixon USBTD (USB Tube DAC) is a very well proven, well regarded unit - hard to go wrong.So is the Squeezebox with the added possibility of WiFi (ie wireless connectivity) though it is not always optimum - very location specific. In addition to the upgrade path - start with a Bolder Cable modded power supply which will keep you below $600. Plus you can use the SB to stream Internet radio without the computer being on - which may or may not be appealing to you.
The nice thing is that a single iTunes Library can be used to support both USB and Ethernet WiFi devices - the mantra being rip once, use many.
I'm leaning toward going with the Sqeezebox. It seems like a good beginning that can grow with me for the future.The Mac arrives on Wed, so we'll just have to see. I've got a 250 GB harddrive on order and I've got a KVM switch siting here. So, I'm moving forward. One step at a time.
Where did you buy it?
I'm looking to purhcase the same one.
Mitch
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I got lucky, I had a friend that works at Apple. So I got one at the employee discount.Other than that, it doesn't matter where you buy one. They are the same price EVERYWHERE.
My daughter is in college, so I thought maybe that would be cheaper, but it was only $20 less with the education discount and it was missing some standard options. So, really it's the same price everywhere.
I was about to order it from Apple when I remembered my acquaintance at Apple. I asked him if there were any places to buy a Mini for discount and he responded with just let me know and I'll give you the employee discount. So, $449 later I had my Apple on order.
I second the recommendation of the iMic as a starter. it's dirt cheap.I used an iMic at the office until I replaced it with a used M-Audio Audiophile USB. Much better sound quality, although not nearly the gain with the Audiophile's USB's hardware volume control as there was with software volume control and the iMic.
At home, I use an AIrport Express into a Musical Fidelity X-DAC v.3. Since most of what I have on the MacBook is MP3/MP4/AAC at between 128 and 192 VBR, the DAC is overkill, truthfully, but it sounds marginally better than just the Airport Express over analog when I stream a CD from the MacBook. If you are using mostly lossy compression, even the analog out sounds pretty good on the Airport Express.
I'm recording everything in Apple Lossloss. I'm doing a lot of researching and I'm thinking I'll go with Airport Express or Squeezebox to begin with and use the audio outs in one of these while I learn more and decide about a DAC purchase. I wish my Cary 308T had a digital "in" but it doesn't.Right now, I change my mind about 3 times a day. So, for now I'll do something cheap to get started and move forward from there.
I looked at the iMic. Is it better than the DAC in the AEX? And some folks seem to think the Squeezebox is good and can be improved fairly easily.
I'll probably end up with a USB DAC, or some DAC using the S/Pdif of either the AEX or Squeezebox. One step at a time.
The mini does have SPDIF output already.
J. Gordon Rankin
Oh, it's the "Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack)" I was looking for a RCA S/Pdif port. I see, I have to get a special cable to use it.
The mini jack is optical and you can get adaptors from mini to regular toslink. That would allow you to use a good glass toslink optical cable. Easiest is to go find a cheap $20 digital cable that included 2 adaptors...Of course, I still think USB is a better and more elegant way to go, but the toslink output is ok.
Enjoy the Mac Mini - I am right now running a Macbook, but I will be switching to the Mini as soon as Apple comes out with a newer version that features the improved Intel Core2duo chipset.
I wish Apple TV would allow streaming to a USB DAC via its "mysterious" USB connection.
Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derjenigen, die die Welt nicht angeschaut haben.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
Get a Scott Nixon USBTD with the better power supply 4xac and be done with it. I have a similar system to you and added the nixon dac. Up until then I was using the M-Audio Audiophile the Nixon is in a totally different league. The Nixon with the better power supply is $625. The best part is the Nixon goes from USB to I2S no s/pdif conversion necessary, a big plus. Non sampling is a nice way to go instead of upsampling, downsampling or sidesampling. I think at this price it is better than a USB/S/pdif converter and used dac.
You could get something cheap like the Griffin iMic to go from USB to the analog RCA inputs for your preamp. I think it comes with the mini-phono plug to RCA connector that you need. This has worked acceptably well for me -- and it'll get you started.Then you can take your time (build up your bank account) and look for a proper USB DAC or whatever.
As this has an ADC input (whence the name iMic) it also gives you a cheap-as-dirt way to bring an analog signal into your computer from your phono preamp to make mp3 from your beloved LPs and thence to you iPod. The direct and easy way is to use Audacity -- which is one of those miraculously free open source software operations.
So, just to be clear, this is not a card-carrying high-end component. But it's simple, cheap, and it works.
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