Thanks for the helpful feedback although I may have to block you as I’m not sure I can afford to read many more of your posts😜
As an aside, I think I recall you picked up a 2-track, 15ips Master Tape copy of a Yello album at AXPONA last year. Did it live up to your expectations?
The tape deck I bought to play it did not work. Wrong capstan drive installed pre sale. 7 1/2 instead of 15. At half speed it didn’t sound right.
Well that stinks - although the bass on “Oh Yeah” at 7-1/2 must have been amazing!
If you ever decide to sell the tape, let me know.
Can someone chime in on how an AppleTV would be integrated with Bacch 4Mac?
Would I need to feed the optical output from my LG TV into the RME (I currently feed the optical of my TV to my DAC) then USB out to the Baach Mac?
Is there a way to use the AppleTV app on the Bacch Mac using HDMI out to the TV for video and audio going through Bacch processing via USB to my DAC?
My testing with a new Mac Mini M4 is that Apple Mac Minis are still crap at working with others’ consumer AV gear over HDMI. I tried UHD Movies in True ATMOS with both an LG 4K OLED and a Samsung 8K LED and with an Arcam ATMOS AV-Preamp and with a Marantz ATMOS AVR. I have much better luck sending sound via USB-C to my Audient Oria. So, since you are talking about AppleTV and not something that actually supports True ATMOS, then maybe you could make it work. In the end, I decided only to use the Mac Mini M4 with BACCH and Dolby Reference Player on it for music, not video. I use an Nvidia Shield for video. Let me know if you figure out something else!
Sounds like there were a few snags with the BACCH SP AFIO in his system, so Shane is holding off on his final thoughts until he first tries the Baach Mac.
His final thoughts should be interesting as his reference DAC is a Playback designs.
Well I am eight minutes older now. I guess we wait some months more and hear how it went. Sounds like he is getting set-up advice now.
Does anyone have any insights on what to change / how to set up a basic BACCH4Mac intro edition? I have it installed, running properly on a headless M4 Mac Mini with Roon Bridge configured and streaming Roon to my DAC. I’m ready for the walkthrough with Edgar, but he must be extremely busy right now.
If there is a baseline setup to try, I’d love to experiment while I wait for the official “walkthrough” configuration call.
It is possible, likely even, that you can’t operate it until the Edgar call. For your own safety perhaps.
The good news is, I’m incredibly busy through Friday and beyond, so I guess I’ll just sit tight and keep breaking in the USB cable.
Thanks Al.
I am sad that this is how this is. It is normally usually quickly forgiven when it is in the past.
People like that (er, like me too) drive Edgar crazy when he turns up for his call with them. Not necessarily because they do something wrong. But because he does not expect that anyone can set things up themselves.
The BACCH release notes are here: Latest Version Notes Archive
On like page 10 of the present version, there is info about using the BH4BACCH pre-configuration in BACCH4Mac
Basically, you need the two-channel, stereo Existential Audio BlackHole driver. Please do consider the voluntary $10 donation to the developer, Devin Roth. Even if you only do it later.
And then in the Mac Midi app you set up an aggregation device called BH4BACCH.
In BACCH4Mac, you select the BH4BACCH auto configure option from the drop down on the advanced page, where I put a red border in this picture
I’m sure he’s even busier than I am Al, and I’m sure once we’re through the walk-through, I’ll be thrilled.
I’m just hoping that my scheduling email hasn’t been routed into the Spam folder…
BACCH devices are enabled via the network connection for use. If Edgar doesn’t enable your device, it simply will not work. If your device is ever stolen, it will be deactivated and of no use to the new “owner”. I like this.
Sounds like an innovation that would fit Kia and Hyundai as well. 
The most important step is to actually order the gear. Then the wait for the Edgar call. After that, it is smooth sailing. Send anything you want to it, and hear it the best it can be heard. Not limited to digital. Although it is all DSP. Purdy good DSP.
DSP1024
Though if you have only dipped your toe in with the intro software package, then you would need to bring your own interface to import analog. The RME Babyface (amongst a couple other RMEs) is supported for that and normally comes with the Audiophile package. Though it is possible to buy only software upgrades, without buying hardware. The software upgrades are available under Catalog in the Theoretica shop at Theoretica Applied Physics, which is NOT to be confused with Princeton’s bacch.com shop.
Ok, everyone using a Mac mini for their BACCH4Mac, please upgrade your power cable! I just replaced the stock Apple cable with one of my old power cables that I replaced the existing plug with a Furutech FI-8.1 (G) plug. You need a COMPACT plug, otherwise you will NOT be able to fit a decent ethernet cable (I’m using a Muon Pro), as the inlet is immediately adjacent.
If all your other sources benefit from a PC cable upgrade, I can assure you the Mac mini does, too.
Happy listening.
I had a Shunyata low-end power cable sitting around that made a nice difference on the M4 Mini. It was already configured with that type of plug.
One other nifty tip I received a few years ago: listen carefully to the system, then flip the power cable 180 degrees on the Mac. They’re symmetrical plugs and receptacles.
One way will sound clearly better than the other. It’s worth the trivial effort to test this.
Replying to myself just to put this up for other who might consider BACCH 4 Mac, I configured an M4 Mac Mini as a headless unit to host the system. I had to get a bit creative because all my electronics are in a separate closet, not out in the room, so it’s likely only a small number of people who might be doing something similar.
I posted on What’s Best Forum about it, but in case anyone here is interested I added this HDMI device to the Mini and configured a few additional parameters:
From any of my other Macs I can launch the Screen Sharing app, a built-in app in MacOS. I had to play around a bit with the Mini computer name and look up some things online before I was able to connect, and ultimately I had to establish a connection in the app on the remote computer to “MacMiniName.local.” (without the quotes), but after that it was easy to connect and operate everything.
No keyboard, no mouse, no monitor required.
