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Mac Mini as cheap music server - can anyone comment based on experience?

JensenHealey said:
All across the room easily. Many keyboards would work - Mac Mini even has built in Bluetooth, you could use a Bluetooth keyboard. Mine only gets used for housekeeping - actual Day to day use is either a tablet (Ipad), my whizzy new Iphone 12 Pro max (wow!), or a Win 10 skinny laptop (mostly). The TV HDMI monitor can be set up to display what is playing - I often use that whilst I am working in the same room.
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I think I'm sorted then. A reasonable large TV will let me see what's playing, I won't even have to resort to VNC'ing (although I do have a cute little tv/monitor with HDMI in, it might be nice to have it under the main TV... and certainly it would be nice to have the main system showing the TV or playing some music while I'm busy ripping).
 
Have you looked at roon?

In terms of a music solution very elegant and negates the need for balancing a keyboard on your lap, jees! Would work will on a mac mini
 
GruntPuppy said:
I'm thinking about buying a Mac Mini for use as a cheap music server, since the ones from Mid 2010 onwards seem to have enough power, have an optical out and Plex seems to do everything that I want.
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Since 2018, the Mini has NOT had an optical out.
 
GruntPuppy said:
Yep - mid 2010, rather. The last of the unibodied optical drive equipped models.
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As I have previously mentioned you can easily rip the CDs on another computer so you don't need a CD drive on a Mac Mini. In fact its a bit of a pain to use the in built drive and much easier to sit comfortably with a laptop or desktop computer. The mini can then permanently reside on the HiFi rack undisturbed.

Also you can rip whilst working and that takes the boredom away especially if its hundreds of CDs.

Have fun,

DV

PS For information the optical drive in the 2010 mini won't boot a Windows installation CD but an external USB optical drive will. Later machines can be booted from a USB thumb drive. The ability to run other O/S such as Windows and Ubuntu keeps future options open. For example the 2012 mini won't run Big Sur but I can run this OS under Windows or Ubuntu on that machine! You can't do this on a 2010 mini as the CPU doesn't support VT-x.
 
deebster said:
Ah sorry GP, but they do have the USB Apple superdrive pretty cheap (£28) https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail...g&title=apple-macbook-8x-superdrive-usb-a1379, but presumably any mains or USB powered external drive would work too.
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Yup- I have a 12V powered general purpose USB connected drive for knocking around. Lost count of how many laptops and PCs it has been used with - but worked quite happily on the Mac Mini.

Nice that the Mini comes with quite a few USB ports built in.
 
GruntPuppy said:
I'm thinking about buying a Mac Mini for use as a cheap music server, since the ones from Mid 2010 onwards seem to have enough power, have an optical out and Plex seems to do everything that I want.

Since I'll be running from HDMI to my amp (which is designed to bring 2 channel stereo integration with TV/DVD/other HDMI inputs to the party) the display of the mac will be shown on the TV (which is above the stereo) when I switch in that input (and I'll also install a vnc app as well), I think that this could do everything I need.

Basically, a starter music server for under £150. I'm sure there are downsides, or recommendations to do with the use of Mac Mini for this purpose, I'd love to hear them.
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Depends on what you wish to do with it.
I have recently purchased the cheapest 2018 model and its i3 processor just about manages to upconvert Redbook to DSD256 and add a bit room EQ using HQPlayer, and not with all filter and noise-shaper settings.

If you intend to use it as player only (and not do any DSP processing) then I believe that most models made after the Core Duo will do the job.

If possible replace the internal HDD with an SSD and put the music in an external SSD, or a NAS located in another room. I have found HDDs to be too noisy for a listening room.
 
Darth Vader said:
As I have previously mentioned you can easily rip the CDs on another computer so you don't need a CD drive on a Mac Mini. In fact its a bit of a pain to use the in built drive and much easier to sit comfortably with a laptop or desktop computer. The mini can then permanently reside on the HiFi rack undisturbed.

Also you can rip whilst working and that takes the boredom away especially if its hundreds of CDs.

Have fun,

DV

PS For information the optical drive in the 2010 mini won't boot a Windows installation CD but an external USB optical drive will. Later machines can be booted from a USB thumb drive. The ability to run other O/S such as Windows and Ubuntu keeps future options open. For example the 2012 mini won't run Big Sur but I can run this OS under Windows or Ubuntu on that machine! You can't do this on a 2010 mini as the CPU doesn't support VT-x.
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It may be a little silly, but I'm one of those old fashioned buggers who likes one thing to do that thing. Right now my NUC is in the living room, once the wifi is sorted out in here it's banished to my bedroom. I'll quite happily (well, a bit grumpily and creakily on take-off and landing) get up and change a cd over for ripping. Most of my old music library is stored on a noisy old USB caddy somewhere, once I dig it out I'll copy it over to the Mac mini (or one of the drives I'll be attaching to it). Although the thought of running alternative OS's on it is interesting, it's not for me. I've been messing around with computers since 1980, these days I'm far, far less creative and experimental than I used to be. Grumpy Old Geek? Quite possibly.

This may change (a little!) though; Unless I get another mac mini for the bedroom, I may stick a USB drive on the NUC in the future, so I can play CD's locally or rip them to the Mac Mini's centralised storage. Since I don't care overmuch about the aesthetics in the bedroom, if I'm going to hang a bunch of devices off a NUC it'll be this one ;) I'll route the output to another DAC/pre that I've got (well... I have 2 others spare... dammit, 3... I must sell some equipment!) and from there to some nearfield monitors.
 
tuga said:
Depends on what you wish to do with it.
I have recently purchased the cheapest 2018 model and its i3 processor just about manages to upconvert Redbook to DSD256 and add a bit room EQ using HQPlayer, and not with all filter and noise-shaper settings.

If you intend to use it as player only (and not do any DSP processing) then I believe that most models made after the Core Duo will do the job.

If possible replace the internal HDD with an SSD and put the music in an external SSD, or a NAS located in another room. I have found HDDs to be too noisy for a listening room.
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Yep, SSD storage is definitely on the "wanted" list for this. A fair few of the mid 2010 models for sale already have them and reasonable RAM upgrades as well. I'll be connecting to a Dac/Pre that has DIRAC room correction.
 
A little late to the party, but I'd thought I'd share my experience as someone with a home full of antiquated Macs that still manage to do everything I need.

The 2008 Mac Pro 3.2GHz 8-core I bought from Apple Refurb in 2010 is still going strong and is running El Capitan. All four HDD bays are loaded and I use this computer to rip CDs, DVDs, and process my photos and videos on.

I then copy what I want out to an external HDD which I use with my 2010 C2D 2.66GHz Mac Mini that I bought from Apple Refurb in 2012. The Mini runs El Capitan and is my main media centre, it's connected to my 50" plasma TV but I can also access its GUI through the Screen Sharing app on my MacBook. I play music through Audirvana+ with EQ filters, mostly LPCM up to 24/192 but I do occasionally play some DSD (DoP) when I'm auditioning DSD DACs and the Mini seems to handle it fine. I control it either using the Remote app on my iPhone or by using a bluetooth mouse (the latter obviously requires either my plasma TV or laptop to be on so that I can see what I'm controlling). I frequently watched ripped video content up to 1080p, Amazon Prime and Netflix on the Mini with no problems. It has however recently become a bit stuttery when playing 1080p/60 YouTube videos in realtime, but it usually rights itself after a few seconds. This Mini is also used to share my iTunes library and, more recently, mkv video rips with my parents' AppleTV.

The 2010 C2D 2.4GHz MacBook Pro I bought new in 2010 died last year. In latter years I used it daily to watch live TV and iPlayer through an external display. One day it just cut out and wouldn't turn back on, I probably ran it too hard as the fans were constantly spinning when piping video out to the external display.

The 2011 i5 1.6HGz MacBook Air I bought new in 2011 is still going strong and is still in daily use running High Sierra. I use this as my general purpose computer and have really pounded the SSD drive (frequently less than 10% free space left) but it still works fine.

Since 2017 the MacBook Air has shared duties with a 2015 i5 2.7GHz MacBook Pro that I bought new from John Lewis in 2016 at a price the was too good to refuse. Unusually it came with El Capitan installed and I've never gotten around to updating the OS. This is my best Mac and I treat it with kid gloves as I want it to last me a long time (I'm not impressed with the reported reliability/build quality of more recent MacBooks, though hopefully the M1 architecture heralds a new dawn).

I was very tempted to buy a new M1 Mini and give my 2010 Mini to my parents so they have a traditional computer they can use to access all of the content we've accumulated over the years. (I literally have tens of thousands of family photos and videos that are stored in traditional folder structures. I never had the time, patience or trust to load them into an app like iPhoto so, AFAIK, they cannot be accessed through the likes of an AppleTV). However, I was put of by the reports of an intermittent bluetooth connection on the M1 Mini, this is an essential function IMO that needs to work as intended. Besides, my ancient Mini still does what I need it to do, so why replace it?

I'm still considering buying a used Mini for my parents. The question is which year and spec represents the best VFM?
 
I use a 2010 and it works fine as a music server for Qobuz and other streaming, with a 256GB SSD. The only downside is that the fan can get a bit noisy, but I now use the 'SSD Fan Control' app. I also use this computer as my desktop, and for streaming video, with no real problems.

For music, I use USB into a SOTM dx-USB-HD, which feeds an Audio Synthesis DAX Discrete via SPDIF. It's pretty damned good. The SPDIF limits it to 24/96, but that's about the only limit.
 
GruntPuppy said:
Yep, SSD storage is definitely on the "wanted" list for this. A fair few of the mid 2010 models for sale already have them and reasonable RAM upgrades as well. I'll be connecting to a Dac/Pre that has DIRAC room correction.
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I would contact Dirac for hardware and system requirements.
A 2010 machine is very old, I'd try the 2012 i7.
"Transparent" room EQ requires a lot of horsepower.

Also as @Elephantears noted, more modern machines will have far more powerful processors which won't get hot with an equivalent processing load.
I bought my 2018 Macmini to replace a 2012 i7 MacBook Pro for that same reason.
Even though the MacBook was able to convert Redbook to DSD256 the chips would get too hot and the fan speed would shoot up to a noisy 3000rpm...

Another thing to look out for in regard to performance is internal BUS speed. As for RAM, 4GB is probably enough but get 8GB if you can.
 
My Dac/Pre has Dirac Live built in, the Mac mini doesn't need it. I have a NUC to use for the sound recording part of the analysis process, and the hardware requirements for this aren't onerous anyway. It's only going to get used for Plex, that's all it will ever have to run. The mid 2010 Mac mini has all I want in a small, neat and economical package. It'll do what i want. Why buy a Porsche if all i want to do is drive half a mile to the shops?
 
The OP asked for advice based on our experience. I have both a 2010 and late 2012 and my choice if buying only the one is the latter late 2012. Its a better spec, newer technology and will have a much longer life that can adapt to future needs.

Cheers,

DV
 
Darth Vader said:
The OP asked for advice based on our experience. I have both a 2010 and late 2012 and my choice if buying only the one is the latter late 2012. Its a better spec, newer technology and will have a much longer life that can adapt to future needs.

Cheers,

DV
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garyi said:
You seem very set on a 2010 mini, fill your boots.
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The mid 2010 meets the hardware requirements. The 2012 doesn't. The 2012 machine is, overall, a much better machine - but I don't need overall - I've got specific requirements - a small, neat all-in-1 box that has a cd/dvd drive (not going to rule out movie ripping and playback), digital out, with the option to connect additional storage if needed. This machine isn't going to need to do anything else at all. I understand that it's sensible to make allowances for future requirements, but any future computing needs will be met by other units.

Also, it's a cheap solution. Having dipped into my emergency funds (aka my burial money!) to buy a dac/integrated to act as pre-amp and a pair of nearfield monitors, I'm anxious to get the best balance of price and function that I can.

Think of this as graceful semi-retirement for a still-worthy piece of kit, next to a bunch of other obsolete but nicely capable equipment that's largely overlooked. Indeed, I'm pleased to say that even my pre-amp - which is still being sold new by Richer Sounds - is discontinued despite it's high spec and being a damned useful piece of gear.
 
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