Popular Post bobfa Posted June 18 Popular Post Share Posted June 18 June 2024 This is not a Comedy, but for some, it would be, thus the title! I have been improving the sound quality and reducing the cost of my music servers and streaming. I have found an exciting mix for building a Roon Server (or alternative) and making it sound better. I have a spare 2012 i7 Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM, but it's not doing me any good. You can buy one at MacSales.com for about $250 in a similar configuration. You can try to get one with a boot SSD; it doesn't have to be large, as we can use an external USB SSD for storage. I have one of these, and the price has been dropping: Microcenter Inland USB SSD. NOTE: You only need this to store an extensive library on the machine. While at Microcenter or the like, you can grab a faster USB Stick. USB 3.2. When you return home, download Balena Etcher and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS live CD to your favorite working computer. Install and run Etcher. It will ask for the ISO file and the USB stick to flash. Hook up the Mac mini to a keyboard, mouse, display, and wired network—there is no WiFi for you! Put the USB stick in the Mac, hold the Option key down, and press the power button while keeping the Option key held down until the Mac shows the drives to boot from. Then, select the USB stick as the boot drive. Once it boots, follow the instructions to install Ubuntu on the internal hard drive (bye-bye MacOS)… OK, I know what you are thinking. Do you need dedicated operating systems you can use? You could try GENTOOPLAYER, AUDIOLINUX, and more. First, a machine with a desktop and a web browser is your friend. Second, the Mac you just bought is not supported by Apple OS updates, so have at it, live a little, and learn more! If you have gotten this far, the next bit will be even more fun. The Roon folks still need to keep their Linux install pages up to date. Go to their forum, and you will find this. https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ubuntu-roon-server-install-tips/52226/2 From one of the mods, here is the work to do: It’s in the guide, but here’s the bits you need. sudo apt update sudo apt install ffmpeg cifs-utils alsa-lib curl -O http://download.roonlabs.com/builds/roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh chmod +x roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh sudo ./roonserver-installer-linuxx64.sh Do this from the terminal app … open the dash and type terminal. You may cut ‘n’ paste each line. The first line tells the machine to update the package lists. The second line downloads and installs three utilities Roon needs The third line downloads the script you need. The fourth line makes the script executable The last line runs the script to install the Roon Core. I cannot help folks if this does not work, so visit the Roon Community above and ask. Now, here is the fun part. Over on Head-Fi, there is a long thread about making Roon sound better. The folks in the Roon Community will ridicule you if you talk about it there. All of these items are simple and reversible: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/roon-optimization-guide-for-increased-sound-quality.968792/ They turn off the processes that scan the local files for level balancing, etc. It only needs to be done once and does not run on streaming files. The following section turns off some of the DSP stuff and improves the sound by not being there. The final section is only to have ONE endpoint installed in Roon. Again YMMV. You can also install minimserver or Lyrion Music Server for your local files and skip Roon. Your ears and your budget will thank you! NOTE: you may want to install an alternative OS dedicated to music playback. Check out Audiolinux and Gentooplayer, for example. Welcome to my world! Come on, the water is fine. It's too bad UpTone Audio has discontinued its Mac mini Power Supply replacement board—ahh, history. RJF -- Wait till I start the write-up on the Raspberry Pi5 with 4TB of NVME. The Computer Audiophile and Exocer 2 My Audio Systems Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Thanks Bob! bobfa 1 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 Forgot a Mac Firmware Password? Don’t Panic, Here’s What To Do https://osxdaily.com/2015/01/28/forgot-mac-firmware-password-what-now/ How to Remove Mac Firmware Password + New way if you have a 2018-2020 T2 Mac! https://mrmacintosh.com/how-to-remove-mac-firmware-password-new-way-if-you-have-a-2018-2020-t2-mac/ Genius Bar wants $500 to reset a firmware password. https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/10j2iu/genius_bar_wants_500_to_reset_a_firmware_password/ Forgot firmware password https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6205003 Quote I have a receipt and took the computer to the Va Bch apple store. The "genius" there refused to help me. Mac mini late 2012 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255030500 Quote I attached an external ssd on which I installed macOS Catalina. I restarted to check and it worked. I kept the old hdd (500GB) and internally attached the new ssd. Everything OK, but partitioning the old hdd, at the next start it shows me a lock directly. I retried all the possible combinations (described on the internet) but it only displays the one that asks me for the firmware password. I called the authorized services (apple.ro), and the answer was "it's too old". FYI - let's be cautious whenever we're dealing with used Apple products, making sure that could actually be returned easily without any hassles whatsoever. Otherwise, good luck with the firmware password whenever SHTF https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Firmware_password Link to comment
taipan254 Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Thanks @bobfa. I’m doing something similar as an endpoint. I bought one of these a while back and loaded an older version of Audiolinux (not v3). I use HQPlayer as my server software on a separate computer. The endpoint is powered by a 12V battery and fed by a regular switch with an iFi LAN iSilencer. It outperforms my Sonore UltraRendu with LPS 1.2, and I'm extremely happy with the setup. This was supposed to be a temporary solution until I built a fully air-gapped endpoint, networked with 10G optical, powered by a 12V battery via an HDPlex ATX module, using Audiolinux V3 (like @lmitche). I know my current mini PC endpoint is limited, for example, it lacks enough RAM to run the OS from memory, which would improve the sound quality even more. However, I’m very pleased with the current sound quality. I’ve already purchased the HDPlex but am in no rush to buy the other PC components. Maybe I should focus on other areas of my system! Link to comment
bobfa Posted June 18 Author Share Posted June 18 8 hours ago, seeteeyou said: FYI - let's be cautious whenever we're dealing with used Apple products, making sure that could actually be returned easily without any hassles whatsoever. That is why I suggest that you buy from a company like MacSales. Seems like you are overplaying your hand! I have been using Macs for DECADES with no issues like you mentioned. My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted June 18 Author Share Posted June 18 For your information, I use an M1 Mac mini with MACOS for my ATMOS audio system. It costs a lot more and it is "hard" to install alternative OS variants on it. My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted June 18 Author Share Posted June 18 8 hours ago, taipan254 said: I bought one of these a while back and loaded an older version of Audiolinux (not v3). I use HQPlayer as my server software on a separate computer. The endpoint is powered by a 12V battery and fed by a regular switch with an iFi LAN iSilencer. I have been using the MiLE PCs for office work and things like HomeAssistant. I never tried one in the Music system. I know that @Archimago has been using them for audio stuff. My Audio Systems Link to comment
biosailor Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 I tried the Taming of the Shrew a few weeks ago. I installed Linux Mint on a MacBook from 2011 that was just collecting dust. Installation of Roon Server went like a breeze. My library is on an external 2 TB SSD and the Roon Server is directly connected via USB to my Devialet Expert 120. I use WiFi for streaming and that works reliably. I have the system in operation since two weeks and it runs very stably. The link to HeadFi concerning SQ improvement is very interesting and I already tried those suggestions. At the moment it’s a bit hard to tell if turning off the suggested processes has an effect, but I just need to listen more carefully, as my system sounded very good to begin with. Thanks for the interesting thread and link! Link to comment
lmitche Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 I am always surprised at the impact of removing the 3 sound filters in Roon. bobfa 1 paretoaudio.com Link to comment
bobfa Posted August 30 Author Share Posted August 30 I had this Mac Mini in my system many years ago with the UpTone audio conversion kit and the JS-2 power supply. Over time, I have found that keeping a desktop OS computer in the music system created extra work for me. This new iteration reminded me of that again as I work on software updates and managing server applications. I do not know how often I must be reminded of this. Last evening, I ordered a Small Green Computer, Sonic Transporter i5 Gen 3. Their Sonic Orbitor OS has all the server software I like to switch between when I am testing. RJF @The Computer Audiophile Sometimes I just create work for myself, because it is "fun!?!" Remind me to STOP, and listen to the music. My Audio Systems Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 21 minutes ago, bobfa said: I had this Mac Mini in my system many years ago with the UpTone audio conversion kit and the JS-2 power supply. Over time, I have found that keeping a desktop OS computer in the music system created extra work for me. This new iteration reminded me of that again as I work on software updates and managing server applications. I do not know how often I must be reminded of this. Last evening, I ordered a Small Green Computer, Sonic Transporter i5 Gen 3. Their Sonic Orbitor OS has all the server software I like to switch between when I am testing. RJF @The Computer Audiophile Sometimes I just create work for myself, because it is "fun!?!" Remind me to STOP, and listen to the music. Love it Bob! @agillis at Small Green Computer creates some wonderful stuff! Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
robi20064 Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 On 6/19/2024 at 6:46 PM, lmitche said: I am always surprised at the impact of removing the 3 sound filters in Roon. You mean completely removing them from the list in Muse even if they are not active? Link to comment
bobfa Posted August 30 Author Share Posted August 30 U yes remove robi20064 1 My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted August 30 Author Share Posted August 30 Yes remove the filters lmitche 1 My Audio Systems Link to comment
agillis Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 On 8/30/2024 at 8:55 AM, bobfa said: I had this Mac Mini in my system many years ago with the UpTone audio conversion kit and the JS-2 power supply. Over time, I have found that keeping a desktop OS computer in the music system created extra work for me. This new iteration reminded me of that again as I work on software updates and managing server applications. I do not know how often I must be reminded of this. Last evening, I ordered a Small Green Computer, Sonic Transporter i5 Gen 3. Their Sonic Orbitor OS has all the server software I like to switch between when I am testing. Thanks for the order. We do have a lot of customers that have replaced a MAC mini with a sonicTransporter. It easier to manage. agillis Small Green Computer http://www.smallgreencomputer.com/ Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now