The question I have here is see what PSU the new M4 Mac Mini gets. Reports are that the Mac Mini itself will be downsized and the power supply externalized. If it gets the M3 iMac PSU, then it may be a combo with ethernet, as well as 143W from 15.9V and 9A. See pics from M3 iMac PSU. Speculation is also that the new base RAM will be 16GB too.
I am running a 2018 i5 now with a Teradak LPS and 32GB. I could still get an M2 16GB that would use the same LPS. (Note: I understand that an M2 Pro would not be compatible with my present LPS though.)
Would like to be able to choose between the old M2, which would still have USB-A, or the new M4, which would not have USB-A, for the holidays.
I read somewhere that the voltage of the new Mac miniâs is variable I believe, depending on how heavy tasks you perform. Also, 9A linear powersupply are a bit harder to find.
The M4 Mac Mini details are supposed to be announced at the end of the month. Other reports are saying there still will be an internal SMPS too. Though all reports are that there will be not many USB plugs and only as Câs.
I run three DACs with the BACCH crossover now. Plus the microphone interface and the webcam means minimum five plugs for me today. So even the present M2 probably would necessitate some kind of USB hub for me.
I am using Jump to control my MacMini with an iPad, and would highly recommend this app. It is not free but inexpensive (I believe $15). I also had problems with SplashTop sporadically locking up.
I finally followed Edgarâs advice and moved my Roon server from my Roon Nuc+ to the Mac Mini which runs BACCH4mac. Itâs better. Now thereâs no network switch and combination of Ethernet cables between the âsourceâ and BACHH4Mac. Shouldâve done it sooner! Now I can sell my Nuc+ and put the proceeds to something else. Waiting for my 3M 7050F sheets to arrive to tweak the Mac MiniâŚ.
My etherRegen goes directly to the Mac Mini (until I buy a Muon Pro)
Edgar has told me so many times that when you use Bacch the Roon server absolutely does not make a difference. Use the Bacch to serve Roon. I havenât tried it but I am certain he is correct. Shhhhhh⌠(It is a Stereo Purifier after all)
I would go so far as to say it sounds significantly better in my set up, but I didnât have a fancy Ethernet cable between the Nuc+ and the etherRegen, only from the side B to the Mac Mini.
Looks like they havenât gone the easy way out on the packaging side with externalizing the power supply, although I fear that this means retrofitting might not be a possibility anymore. On top of the three thunderbolt USB-C plugs on the back, I do find interesting that they chose to add another two non-thunderbolt USB-C plugs on the front that they refer to as audio jacks.
Some tales from mini hackintosh land. I updated my 2018 Intel Mac Mini to the new macOS 15 Sequoia because I wanted to play with the new limited ATMOS passthrough that Apple finally allowed on Macs. I would not need an M4 if Sequoia were all that is needed. They did not allow much more at all though. I understand this is the case with Apple Silicon too. Ran into some incompatibilities with one of my softwares⌠or rather with two that have to speak to each other. Tried to go back to macOS 14 Sonoma, but got completely stuck. The usual restore methods for Intel Macs failed entirely. Had to reinstall reconfigure some items to work with Sequoia loaded. Luckily BACCH4Mac seems to be fine with Sequoia. Just had it on for the last five hours, using both USB and AES (over an interface) out. I would not recommend moving from Sonoma to Sequoia just yet though.
You might try unplugging the etherRegen/ethernet and allow the Mac-mini to connect via WiFi. I have Roon loaded on a Mac Studio M2 (32 Gb RAM) along with B4M Intro version. I listen only to Qobuz. My CD racks line the side walls and it makes me feel better to pretend they act as sound diffusers. I also have an etherRegen which I had been using until about 3 weeks ago when I decided on a whim to disconnect the ethernet cable. More dynamic contrast, bigger sound via WiFi.
I will admit I have 3M material stuck on top of the etherRegen which might have been squashing the dynamics, however the thing runs so hot I canât readily peel off the 3M. But Iâm happy with WiFi.
Also to note Edgar had me toe in the speakers to point at my ears when he set me up with B4M. I used to have the speakers firing 1° off forward pre B4M install. Edgar explained that his software does not require the high frequency roll off associated with front firing speakers.
Thanks @BuzzB
Interestingly, that wasnât my experience. I had tried wifi but the sound wasnât right for me, so I switched back to the etherRegen with Furutech NCF cat 8 to the Mac Mini. In my setup, it was clearly better. I guess it comes down to where the noise resides in each set up.
My next steps will be adding fibre using a converter- fibre - etherRegen SFP, then one A side to Muon Pro then Mac Mini. That should isolate all the other devices and a wifi extender that are connected to that Ethernet line which runs foreign on the router. Itâs not using the full A-B moat of the etherRegen, but I expect the Muon Pro to do the heavy lifting. Staying on the A side allows Gigabit connection to the Muon Pro, rather than throttling back to 100MB on the B side.
@Philip_Gan so many moving parts itâs fun trying things out. It took me 6 months to realize I should even try WiFi, as I went from DSD Mk1+Bridge 2, which requires ethernet, to B4M on Mac, which gives me choices. So I just kept my existing ethernet setup.
Everyoneâs set up is so unique we cannot even identify all the variables. For example the reason I thought of trying WiFi is that our home internet collapsed a few weeks ago following which the tech came out and changed out the 3 coax plugs from the street connection to the house external box to the modem input in the closet. The house was built in 2017 and the connections were only 7 years old but I live at the coast. The tech also explained that unless you pay for gigabit internet the provider remotely throttles back the speed at the modem. So I upgraded to gigabit for unrestrained supply which now matches at my modem from the street (the tech showed me the speed test results at each of the three locations). Does that affect sound quality? Who knows.
Eric
@BuzzB
I found that streaming sounded best if I used the Ethernet outlet from the wall (which is direct from the router and unshared) exclusively for the server (previously Room Nuc+, now Mac Mini). I used a wireless mesh to extend my wifi to that part of the house and connected everything else that needed internet connectivity around there to the wifi extender. Unfortunately, that was not a great wifi connection- unreliable and slow (itâs a fairly large home with steel frame), so after a few complaints about slow internet to laptops etc, I connected the wall ethernet to another router, which the wifi mesh extender was hard wired to (LAN), along with the other devices and etherRegen. That provided solid internet connectivity to that part of the house but more ânoiseâ to the streaming. I tried wifi to the Mac mini (BACCH) but was worse than from the etherRegen. Iâm going to add an optical connection from the router to the etherRegen next, which I expect will help, and use the B side âmoatâ to the Mac Mini until the Muon Pro arrives. Then Iâll keep the optical connection but go from A side of the etherRegen to the Muon Pro to make use of the gigabit capacity.
I use HQPlayer to send everything to my Mac Mini as PCM 24-96. Saves the Mac Mini from doing much conversion processing. I have some HQPlayer filters that I like too. And means I can play from my library of DSD files too. But note that it is much more data processing intensive to go from DSD to PCM than the other way around. I have a rather powerful HQPlayer server. Do not try to do this with HQPlayer running on the same machine that is running BACCH4Mac. Might be OK if you are not doing anything too fancy with HQPlayer. But then why use itâŚ
Given that I use two separate machines, I have the HQPlayer network audio adapter (NAA) loaded on the Mac Mini. Since I use the SF4BACCH setup for BACCH4Mac, I tell HQPlayer over its web interface on the server machine to send to SF4BACCH on the Mac Mini.
Only try this if you love fiddly systems setups and occasional head smashing against the wall.
