VPI

Sorry to disappoint you guys but the iMac is a gift for my mom who I have finally convinced to move over from the dark side after her Dell desktop died in an electrical storm. I already have a Mac Pro and an older iMac so I am not really in the market for anything but the mini for my music server and magic meeses for everything.

They found me a 2.53/320/4GB Mac Mini also so I have tons of new toys to play with tonight.

At the apple store playing with the new 27" iMac. Fantastic machine. They let me hook up some Sony video camera via firewire and process some video in Final Cut Pro and the thing flew. No Magic Meeses but I did get my loaded iMac.

$200 dollars cheaper at B&H

If B&H ever gets the Metric Halo back in stock I am going to have to try it. Is set up a difficult task?

Should really get an 8 Core Mac Pro with 32 Gb of ram to be safe.

Well I couldn't convince the Geniuses to sell me a Mini yet. They are all behind the black curtain. They wouldn't even tell me when they were doing the big unveil so I could go back. The way I see it is this is a significant upgrade for the same price with the faster processor and 4 gb Ram standard. I was going to pay over a grand for a 2.26 ghz with the same RAM last week and now I will pay 799.00. Now if they will just sell me one.

Don't have one of those yet but I do still have the Weiss DAC2 and I hear that Amarra is best through firewire.

I intended to use an outboard firewire 800 HD then I remembered that there is only one firewire output so I have to decide whether I use the slow onboard HD and firewire audio out or use a fast drive for storage and USB out.

I think the 2.53 C2D with the small hard drive and max ram will be in my cart soon if that prediction is right.

Went back to HD Tracks for some more: Jerry Douglas - The Jerry Douglas Band at Grey Fox Jerry Douglas - Bourbon and Rosewater The Smithereens - The Smithereens Play Tommy Billy Burnette - Memphis in Manhattan Various Artists - Poor Boy, The Songs of Nick Drake Thiemo Janssen | Agnes Luchterhandt - Arp-Schnitger-Orgel Norden (Very cool pipe organ stuff)

It is looking very likely now that new ones will be announced tomorrow including one that comes preloaded with Mac Server. There will also evidently be a multi-touch trackpad standalone device to be used with the desktops which I will definitely have to own if it comes to fruition.

Well I do have the month of December off so I might try to make it down for a Florida meet.

Hit HD Tracks, via Paypal of course, to buy my first Hi-res albums. Nancy Bryan - Neon Angel - APO The Kinks - One for the Road The Kinks - State of Confusion Chesky - Area 31 Chesky - Audiophile Voices Monty Alexander - Calypso Blues Valerie Joyce - The Look of Love - Chesky

You can order the OLN-2 with "creamy Jensen Transformer goodness" from their website. I thought about getting one of these to take firewire from the Mac Mini and into my chosen DAC via AES/EBU.

I talked to the girl at the Apple Store and when I asked if a new version was coming out she just smiled and said she did not know. I hope they are not just cutting it altogether but I do not think they could have kept that secret with all the Mac Rumor hounds. I think it will just be an upgrade, but a better processor could be nice if it just means I wait a few days.

Happy Birthday

I intend to buy the fully loaded model as I am very good at the destruction of, but not so good at the working on electronics. The Apple online store is also showing a bit longer delay on the Mini so I really think Tuesday might bring an upgrade so I will at least wait that long. Best Buy is out of the Mini as is TekServe here in the City so something is definitely coming.

Well no Mac Mini tonight as the Flagship store on 5th Ave. Is sold out. This would mean to me that a new one will be debuted next week, so I guess I will wait.

Can you buy a Mini in the store with upgraded RAM or do I have to do it online?

So I need to get the top of the line model just to be safe. I assume it is easy to add RAM to these things. Rowmote is a more advanced remote that Amarra recommends for controlling their software.

I could just hook up a monitor for set up and then view remote desktop for everything else? This would not cost much more than the NAS drive needed to run the PerfectWave bridge and I would be able to use the Amarra in this scenario and greatly cut down on random cables running through the house.

As I am further developing my computer as a source set up I have come to the realization that placing a Mac Mini in the rack might be my best option. Right now I can run audio from my Mac Pro or my Macbook Pro via, USB, Firewire or AES/EBU from the Pro. Unfortunately I do not want to give up the Macbook Pro as my listening room computer and the Mac Pro is several rooms away. My plan is to put the Mac Mini in the rack with iTunes and Amarra installed. Then I believe I can control the Mac Mini either by my laptop or with my Touch if I leave Amarra up as it interfaces with the Rowmote App. I could then take the Squeezebox out of the system and run USB or Firewire out of the Mac and into one of my many DACs. So what am I missing?

I must have missed something. Al, he was a good guy and seemed very knowledgeable and not the least bit like the normal NYC audio salesman. He actually talked me into buying the cheaper software as he thought it was all I needed.

Yep, I spent the afternoon at Ciamara in the city playing with gear and buying the Dongle. Really enjoyable afternoon. Sanjay sells Amarra and all the Sonic Studio, Weiss, Berkley Audio and Lavry DACs. He actually sells from his house which is only a few blocks from Dinny's house. He also makes custom speakers with custom amps/cabling. The set he had in his house used a 18" and two 15" NAD drivers and some sort of Beryllium horn loaded tweeters. Huge speakers but we couldn't really drive them hard as his kids were home.