December 20th, 2012
Unofficial Guide to Mac Mini Media Server for Newbies
The questions below come up frequently, so I’ve tried to provide the consensus thinking of Computer Audiophile in one handy article. Many may quibble on a point or two, but I think a healthy majority of CA would approve of the following. The one exception is the discussion in the Appendix about various computer interface standards (USB, Firewire, etc.) There, I’ve tried to describe in very v ery simple terms some ideas which I barely understand. Any errors or misdescriptions are mine. Also, these instructions were written for Lion and iTunes 10. Some terminology may have changed with the switch to Mountain Lion and iTunes 11, but the same principles apply. I.
Who should bu buy a Mini?
A. The Mini (technically (technically the the ‘Mac mini’) makes a fine fine media server, server, and is appropriate for people who are experienced with Macs and people who want to become experienced with Macs. If you’re a Windows or a Linux user who doesn’t really care for Macs, then you’ll probably be better off with something something else. C.A.P.S. v2.0, v2.0, for example. B. By the way, way, MacBooks and Mac Pros make good servers, too. The The reasons most most people go with the Mini is cost and size; they’re easy to squeeze into an existing stereo system. II. II.
Whic Wh ich h Min Minii sho shoul uld d I get? get?
A. Any of the the more recent Minis will have more than than enough horsepower to act as a media server — just make sure it has a Core 2 Duo processor processor or better. better. If you don’t have one lying lying around, it’s it’s best to buy a new one. Minis are available available on eBay, eBay, but their priced pretty close close to the new ones, which have much more powerful chips and much better graphics. The latter is important if you intend to hook your Mini up to a television. (The newer Minis include an HDMI port). B. The specific model you should get depends on whether you’ll you’ll be using using the Mini Mini to play play movies and TV shows. If not, then the $599 2.5 GHz dual-core i5model is fine. C. Many CA members members report an an improvement improvement in sound sound qualit quality y using an SSD. SSD. 1. A solid solid state state drive has has no moving moving parts, parts, which means means noise noise is reduced. reduced. And And it runs much much cooler, meaning the fans don’t have to work as hard, which also means less noise. (We’re not talking noise you could actually hear. We’re We’re talking a kind of noise that acts as a form of pollution with respect to the th e electric curr ent ent which carries the digital signal within the computer.) 2. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, it’s it’s not necessarily practical practical for a newbie. Firstly, Firstly, the SSD is only available as an option on the $799 Mini, and it costs an extra $300. At 256 GBs, that’s overkill for a music server, and you could get a 60 GB one at Other World Computing for $80. You could install the SSD yourself, but if you’re reading this for instructions on how to set up a media server, this kind of repair may be above your pay-grade. D. You will want to get more RAM, RAM, but don’t buy it at Apple, where it’s it’s expensive. There are lots lots of reputable RAM sellers out there, but I’ve always had good luck with the aforementioned Other World Computing, who also provide helpful videos on how to install RAM . With the current Minis, installing RAM is a breeze. Get an 8 GB upgrade, which right now at OWC is $50. III. III. Which Which DAC DAC should should I get? get?
A. Check th the C.A.S.H. List for suggestions. And And try to listen to as many DACS as you can, as they can sound quite different.
IV. What What about about an an extern external al hard hard drive drive? ?
A. If you’re migrating your iTunes iTunes from a laptop, laptop, you’re used to to having all of your files in in one place. You’re also used to not having very many files, or at least not very many big ones. If you’re going to the trouble of setting up a media server, you should build in some expandability, expandability, and an external hard drive will allow that. B. The external hard drive doesn’t need to anything anything special, special, but it should be at least 2 GBs and it should have a Firewire port, especially if you will be connecting your DAC via USB. Your Your DAC should be on its own bus — kind of a mini-highway within the computer — so it doesn’t experience excess traffic, which could affect how it sounds. Using Firewire to connect your external hard drive is a quick and easy way to make sure it’s not on any of the buses used by the USB ports. 1. For a longer longer discus discussio sion n of buse buses, s, see see the the Appendix Appendix.. V.
How do do I set up the the Mi Mini? ni?
A. Grab a keyboard keyboard and a mouse, and hook hook the Mini up to to either a monitor or a TV. TV. Though you you will typically be running your Mini headlessly ( e.g., without a monitor), using some kind of display now makes things much m uch easier. B. After the initial initial set-up, set-up, you’ll need need to turn turn on Screen Sharing. This This will allow you to control your Mini via another Mac. While the Remote app works very well on both the iPhone and the iPad, there are times when you’ll want better access — for things like updating software and the like. Screen Sharing makes doing those things a breeze. C. To make things easier on yourself, yourself, place icons off off the programs you’ll you’ll be using using the most on the desktop. (You (You could also just put these in your Dock.)
For me, that’s that’s iTunes, iTunes, Pure Music Music (my third-party third-party music player), Audio MIDI Setup (used by by music players and DACs), the Public folder and some w eb browsers and video players.
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1. In addition addition,, there are a bunch bunch of background background proces processes ses you might might want want to turn off. off. This is is one of those “can’t hurt/might help” tweaks. In short, your Mini might sound better if it’s not distracted doing other, computery things. a) Turn Turn off Spotligh Spotlight. t. Got to System System Preferences Preferences > Spotlight Spotlight > Privacy Privacy. Click the + button button and add your entire hard disk.
b) Turn off off Bluetooth. Go to System Preferences Preferences > Bluetooth and make sure the On On button is not selected.
c) Turn Turn off the the infrared infrared receiver receiver.. Go to System System Preferences Preferences > Security Security & Privacy Privacy > General. General. If the Advanced button is not illuminated, click on the lock and enter an administrator’s password. Then click click on Advanced and check Disable Disable remote control infrared receiver. receiver.
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VI. Can you help help me set up my my DAC? DAC?
A. Sorry, Sorry, but I don’t don’t know which one you bought. bought. I’m hoping your manufacturer can help you out with this one. VII. How do I transfer transfer my my music to the Mini? Mini?
A. Presumably, Presumably, you already have have an iTunes iTunes library somewhere, somewhere, and you’d like like to transfer both both your music files as well as things like playlists. This is pretty easy. easy. By the way, way, this set of instructions is only (I think) for iTunes for Mac — I’ve never used iTunes for Windows. Windows. B. Take whatever external hard drive you’ll be using with the Mini and connect it the computer where you have your current copy of iTunes. Copy the entire iTunes folder to the external hard drive. (See [User] > Music.) If your iTunes Media folder (which contains the actual music files) lives somewhere else than the iTunes folder — as it should — go copy that as well. C. Now connect the external hard drive to your Mini, and copy copy your original original iTunes iTunes folder from the external hard drive to the Music folder. folder. D. Open iTunes iTunes and go go to Preferences. Preferences. Under General, General, give the Mini’s Mini’s library a name which is different from the original iTunes Library. E. You can leave leave the iTunes iTunes Media folder on the external hard drive. But — while while you’re still still in Preferences — go to Advanced and change the location of the iTunes Media library to the appropriate folder on the external hard drive.
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VIII. How do I operate the Mini?
A. The Remote app does does a great job. You’ll first need to pair your iOS device with the iTunes iTunes on the Mini. Open Remote and get to the Settings screen. Click on Add an iTunes Library and follow the instructions. B. You can also also operate the Mini from from any other other Mac you have. Just use the Screen Sharing function function by going to a Finder window window and selecting the Mini from the list of Shared devices in the the sidebar. sidebar. IX. What What do I use use for for a volu volume me contr control? ol?
A. You will have either two or three. You You have the analog volume volume control on your amplifier, amplifier, and the digital volume control within iTunes. You may also, depending on your DAC, have a volume control for the Mac’s system audio.
Here’s Here’s a blurry screenshot screenshot from from my Mini. The speaker icon is is grayed out because my DAC, an Ayre Ayre QB-9, does not not allow for system audio audio volume control. control. \
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And here’s a screenshot screenshot from my MacBook MacBook Air. Air. It has no DAC, so I can control control the volume of the entire system here. If you don’t know how to get the speaker icon in your menu bar, head to the Appendix the Appendix..
B. Ideally, Ideally, you would would like the volume to be controlled controlled via the analog device. When When volume is is controlled digitally, digitally, it ceases being bit perfect. So if your iTunes volume is set at 50%, this means that the computer has to create new bits to send to your DAC. C. In reality, reality, the problem is not severe. iTunes iTunes by itself itself does a pretty good, and many third-party music players do an excellent job. So if getting to the volume dial on you amp is a hassle (or you’ve misplaced your remote), don’t worry. worry. X.
How How do do I rip rip CDs CDs for for the the Min Mini? i?
A. First off, off, let’ let’ss talk about about the the different different formats formats.. 1. You want to rip to a lossless lossless format, format, which reduces reduces your your options options to AIFF AIFF and ALAC. ALAC. The reason for choosing a lossless format is that is produces a bit-perfect copy — an exact duplicate of the file on the CD. If you rip to a lossy format, such as MP3 or AAC, you will be losing some information — forever. 2. AIFF is uncompr uncompressed essed,, and ALAC ALAC is compress compressed. ed. ALAC, when when uncompres uncompressed, sed, becomes becomes AIFF. AIFF. As ALAC files are about 40% smaller than AIFF files, ALAC is the way to go. 3. Go to iTune iTuness > Prefer Preferenc ences es > Genera General. l.
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4. Clic Click k on on Impo Import rt Set Setti ting ngs. s.
5. Make sure to select select error correction correction.. That’ That’ss it. it. B. The new Minis Minis do not not come with with optical drives. Odds are, though, you already own another Mac which does. You You can use that Mac M ac to rip CDs. Then just copy the files into a folder, and copy that
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folder to the Public folder of the Mini. The Mini will appear in the sidebar of any Finder window under Shared. C. After you’ve copied the files, use Screen Sharing to connect to the Mini, Mini, and copy copy the files files from the Public folder (helpfully located on your desktop) into iTunes. D. You can also use use this method to copy exported exported playlists from your original iTunes into the Mini. XI. Tweaks
A. ThirdThird-Part Party y Music Music Player Playerss 1. Most CA members members use a third-p third-party arty music music player player,, and there there are a bunch bunch of them: them: Pure Music, Music, Amarra,, BitPerfect Amarra BitPerfect,, Audivarna and Fidelia Fidelia.. Most of these improve the sound quality by loading a song into RAM before playing it — a feature called memory play. This is especially helpful when playing ALAC files. a) With With ALAC ALAC and memory play play,, the computer computer uncompresse uncompressess the file and converts converts it, it, temporarily, temporarily, into an AIFF file. This file then sits in RAM, waiting to be played. Without Without memory play, play, the computer would have to spin the hard drive to read the file (creating noise), and then uncompress the file and play it, pretty much all at that same time. Many CA members found this to result in a modest degradation in sound quality. 2. Many third-p third-party arty music music players players offer offer upsampling upsampling,, which kind kind of turns turns a normal CD music music file (recorded at 16 bits/44.1 kHz) into a hi-res file (such as 24/176.4). In short, the computer takes a look at two samples, spread out over 1/44,100 of a second. It then figures out that the three missing samples in the middle should be and creates them, so there are now samples every 1/176,400 of a second. a) Many people, people, includin including g me, think this this sounds better better.. Many others either either don’t don’t like the the sound, or prefer that the music file be delivered in bit-perfect form to the DAC. Fortunately, Fortunately, most of these players have free demos, so you can try them out and see which, if any, you like, and which settings you prefer. 3. If you are are using using memory play play — and you you should should — you you will need need to make make one change change to your System Preferences. As the songs are loaded into RAM, there’s there’s not a lot that the computer is doing, and the OS could put the computer to sleep. To avoid this, go to System Preferences > Energy Display and set Computer sleep to a time period longer than your usual listening session — mine is set to 3 hours. This will still allow your computer to sleep from time to time, while not interrupting your music.
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B. Cabl Cables es — Dig Digit ital al 1. For Firewire, Firewire, nothin nothing g special special is needed. needed. Just make make sure the the cable isn’t isn’t really really cheap or or poorly constructed. 2. For USB, there there is a big debate. debate. Withi Within n getting getting too far into into the weeds, weeds, you’d you’d do well to get get a very well-constructed but modestly priced cable, such as the ones found at Blue Jeans Cable. Cable. A six-foot cable runs $2.00. 3. If you’re you’re adding adding the Mini to a high-en high-end d system system and also plunke plunked d down thousand thousandss of dollars dollars on a DAC, then it’s worth comparing cables from the likes of Nordost, Nordost, AudioQuest AudioQuest,, Transparent Audio and others. These cables run in price from “meh” to “OMG.” C. Cabl Cables es — Anal Analog og 1. There’s There’s much much more consensus consensus at CA that it’s it’s worth spendin spending g money on premium premium cables. cables. Blue Jeans is, again, a very good bet at the low end (price-wise: about $40), and the others have fans even at higher price points. D. Vibra ibrati tion on Cont Contro roll 1. After you’v you’vee been enjoyin enjoying g your Mini Mini media media server server for a while, while, you may may feel an an itch to to improve it. You You may also feel a greater itch not to spend a lot of money. One of the more popular tweaks involves involves isolating the audio audio equipment from vibration. vibration. I have Herbie’s Tenderfeet under my Mini, DAC and amplifier. amplifier. I think, in total, it set me back about $75. Others at CA prefer different products. XII. XII. Back Back-U -Up p
A. It is essential that you develop develop a back-up plan plan for your digital digital music. Every hard drive will will fail; it is only a matter of time. A top-flight top-flight back-up plan would call for three copies of your music library, library, with one stored off-site. The second copy is insurance in case the first copy fails, and the 9
third, off-site copy is insurance on the first two copies in the event they are destroyed in a fire or other disaster. B. This sounds like a lot, but but it’s it’s fairly easy to to do, especially if you already own a Mac which holds your original iTunes library. library. In this case, the iTunes library on your Mini media server is the second copy. C. Also, if you you are using using Time Time Machine Machine on your Mac Mac — the one which which is not the media media server server — then you’re taking care of a third copy. You You are not, however, storing it off site. So, while you’re doing a good job of protecting yourself against hard drive failure, you’re not protecting yourself from the hard drive being physically destroyed. 1. Many Many CA member memberss woul would d advi advise se not using Time Machine on your Mini media server, as it would periodically place a processing load on the computer which could degrade sound quality. D. That’s wher e Carbon Copy Cloner and Cloner and Super Duper come Duper come into play. Both can make bit-perfect copies of your hard drives (and both have demo versions). Periodically, Periodically, I would use CCC to clone my music library, and then I’d take the hard drive to work. That would be my third, off-site copy. copy. 1. CCC and Super Super Duper Duper can be used used with with a Mini media media server server,, as they can can be configu configured red to run run in the wee hours of the morning, when (presumably) you are not listening to music. Time Machine just runs all the time (or, more properly, properly, hourly). E. RAID drives aren’t really part of a back-up strategy, strategy, but they can be helpful helpful if you you know what you are doing. (Wikipedia has a pretty good description of what RAID is, is, and how RAID works.) works.) 1. If you have have configured configured your your RAID drive drive to RAID 0, you you get no protecti protection on whatsoev whatsoever er.. If any drive fails, you will lose all your information. So why do people use RAID 0? It’s incredibly fast, because the machine is reading off of multiple har d drives. 2. If you have have configured configured your your RAID drive drive to RAID 1, you you get great great protection protection,, as all of your information is being written to each of your drives. So long as one of your drives remains functional, you should be fine. 3. If you have have configur configured ed your your RAID drive drive to RAID RAID 5 (which (which means means you’ll you’ll need a machine machine with four disk drives), then it should continue to function if one drive goes kaput. If a second drive goes down before you’ve replaced the first one, you’ll lose everything. 4. Drobos o perate similarly, similarly, but with a different system. sy stem. F. You need to test your your back-ups. Create a file; even an e-mail will due. The next day (after your your Mac has had a chance to back things up), delete it and try to recreate is using Time Machine (or CCC/Super Duper). XIII.Alternatives
A. If you’re looking looking for a cheap alternative alternative to a Mini-based stereo system, or you just want to pipe music into a different room in your home, then there are two very satisfactory alternatives. B. Airp Airpor ortt Expr Expres esss 1. The Airpor Airportt Express, Express, at $99, is simply simply a great way to go. It’s It’s bit-perfect bit-perfect,, but does suffer suffer from some jitter. If you round things out with some self-powered speakers like the Audioengine A5+, use a modest DAC like an Audioengine Audioengine D1 and grab some Blue Jeans cables, you can create a complete remote system you’ll be happy with for about $750. (For what it’s worth, 10
the old Airport Expresses are supposed to sound better than the new ones, the ones which look like white Apple TVs.) C. Apple TV 1. You could could do the same thing thing with with an Apple Apple TV (also (also $99), $99), but it might might not not sound as good. good. The Apple TV will will end up upsampling all of your 44.1 kHz files to 48 kHz, as that’s the sample rate used by the movies and TV shows in the iTunes store, which is what the Apple TV is geared for. Supposedly, Apple does a pretty good with this upsampling. And you do get video as well. If all you’re doing to do is listen to music, then the Airport Express is the better way to go. XIV.Appendix
A. A Bus Bus Tour our 1. There are are a variety variety of ways ways to get your music music files files from your your computer computer to to your a DAC. DAC. In judging them, a key factor is how how much jitter they introduce introduce into the signal path. path. Jitter describes how irregular the signal is — how much the signal deviates from its intended periodicity. periodicity. For a normal CD file, a data signal is supposed supposed to be received by the DAC DAC every 1/44,100 of a second. When jitter is introduced, the DAC will still play the file, but it won’t sound as clean. Transients — things like a cymbal crash or a guitar pick striking a string, get smeared. Accordingly, Accordingly, one of the goals in reproducing digital music is keeping jitter to minimum. a) Toslink (1) Most Macs Macs have a Tosli Toslink nk connector connector,, as does the Airport Airport Express. Express. One One benefit benefit of Toslink is that it carries the digital information in optic form. This means the signal is isolated from any noise which may in the electrical current inside the computer. Another benefit is that it doesn’t share a bus with anything else on the computer. One problem, though, is that Apple limits its operation to 96 kHz. Another is that it may have relatively high jitter. That said, many CA members have had very good experiences with Toslink. b) Firewire (1) Weiss makes makes Firewire Firewire DACS, DACS, as do do many pro pro audio audio manufactur manufacturers ers such such as Halo and Apogee. One feature of the Firewire standard is its ability to operate in isochronous mode, which allows equipment connected via Firewire to place dibs on certain amounts of bandwidth. For a DAC, this means it can lay claim to an uninterrupted flow of information from the computer, which is key. Having dedicated bandwidth improves timing, which means there is less jitter. jitter. c) USB (1) The most most popular popular computer computer interfa interface, ce, USB is not not a good choice choice for a DAC. DAC. Unlike Unlike Firewire, which operates on a peer-to-peer basis, USB relies on the computer to manage the flow of data between USB devices. With Firewire, a Firewire-connected camera can talk directly to a Firewire-connected hard drive, with the computer basically doing nothing. nothing. (2) If no other other steps steps are taking, taking, USB USB DACs will will have large large amount amountss of jitter jitter.. Fortunately, Fortunately, there are several effective steps to reduce it. The first is to a create custom driver, which is the route most pro audio devices. Another, Another, developed by Computer Audiophile’ Audiophile’ss own Gordon Rankin, requires no custom driver but allows 11
the DAC to operate in asynchronous mode, which results in low jitter. jitter. Wavelength Wavelength Audio introduced this technology, which is now also used by Ayre and the AudioQuest Dragonfly. 2. Regardless Regardless of which which interface interface you you end up using, using, you won’t won’t want want to make make jitter jitter worse by adding devices to the bus which connects the bus — you want nothing on that bus but the DAC. So how do you find out what’s on your buses? 3. Go to the Apple Apple menu menu and click on About About This This Mac. Mac.
4. Clin Clink k on on Mor Moree Inf Info. o.
5. Clic Click k on on Sys Syste tem m Rep Repor ort. t. 6. Now click click on USB, USB, and you will see the the USB USB High-Spee High-Speed d Buses. Buses.
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a) High-spee High-speed d buses are are required required for operatin operating g DACs at samplin sampling g rates greater greater than than 96 hZ, as they can take advantage of protocol called Class Two Audio.
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b) Older Minis had some empty buses. buses. This 2011 2011 model does not. As you can see, the first
bus already serves Bluetooth. Bluetooth. c) This screens screenshot hot shows shows the second second high-sp high-speed eed bus. This This one hosts hosts my DAC, DAC, as well as the infrared receiver. But I’ve turned off that off, so I should be fine. 7. Here, Here, by by the the way way, is my Fire Firewir wiree bus. bus.
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8. You can see see that there there is only only device device on the the bus, my Glyph Glyph hard hard drive. drive. 9. So I know that that my DAC DAC is the only only active active device device on its its bus, and and that I’ve I’ve eliminat eliminated ed as much much potential jitter as I could. could. B. How to Make the the Speaker Speaker Icon Icon Appear Appear in the the Menu Bar Bar 1. Go to Syst System em Pref Prefere erence ncess > Sound. Sound.
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2.
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