I like that kind of hacking!
At my previous long term employer, they wanted to secure only their production systems. So I used a sniffer to collect usernames and passwords and got many usernames and passwords based on non-production logins. Apparently the passwords were similar to the production ones …
Um - every day?
I learned how to program using a teletype (connected to an ICL 4130, later a Burroughs 5700 IIRC). Mind you I had been programming an IME 86S before that.
I can’t really using streaming from the internet here - best speed is 1.5 megabit per second. Tidal can be very painful - a few bars then silence for a while then a few more bars.
For my listening pleasure I have a more or less dedicated Gigabyte Brix with a largish SSD that has all my music (not a huge collection by many people’s standards) of about 18000 tracks. I use another PC with a Focusrite Scarlett 18 8 plus a Korg D888 for recording people playing music. So it’s not dead here.
Yes at 1.5mbps your usage of the internet will be limited to certain uses - and lossless streaming is unlikely to be viable - although you have just enough bandwidth if nothing else was happening on your link
Simon
I would go crazy. You could try something lossy like Spotify. I generally dont like Spotify but it holds up to Tidal pretty well in a tunedem comparison.
@Jan,…Very interesting.
I have a friend who has worked and “tweaked” a lot with the Mac Mini.
Use an SSD.
Remove the SMPS,and replace it with a LPS. Remove the fan,.you can do it if you use an SSD,.and uses an external Linear Power Supply.
Then your Mac Mini won’t be so hot.
Remove all additional HDMI outputs.
This was a few things,.but removing the fan and using a LPS makes the biggest difference on soundquality.
This guy is a constructor,.so his Linear Power Supply to his Mac Mini he has built on a “Wooden board”.
The reason for this is,.that he is developing it all the time,therefore it is not in a “box”.
This is his third version of LPS for his Mac Mini.
I put in a picture so you’ll see a little how it looks.
It is not small,…but very,very good…See below.
Jan,…If you want,.I can arrange so that you can get in touch with each other.
He is very knowledgeable,.and have “tweaked” a lot with Mac Mini.
/Peder🙂
@Jan,…I may add that he lives in Umeå,.has had Linn…And I also think Naim.
Now designs,.among other things,their own power amps.
A Linn and Naim trader who listened to his system says…It’s the best,.Or at least among the three best systems I’ve heard in my life.
So the guy knows what he is doing.
If you want to get in touch with him,.let us hear from you.
/Peder🙂
It’s a good job you told me, I’d have never have known based on the evidence.
I hope those ‘block connectors’ are not carrying mains.
Guinnless,…No one else has access to this.
I can assure you that he knows what he is doing…
.
Guinnless,…Same answer as above .
When he is finished with a construction it is assembled into a “box”.
Then everything is at LEAST as “Attention To Detail” as at Naim and Linn.
This is a “work material”.
I had no other image available…Thought you understood it .
This below is pictures of the loudspeaker-system he is using.
This is not his speaker…but he has the same.
These on the picture,.except the first picture,is from a friend in Stockholm.
These pictures are from 1999.
There are two such loudspeaker-systems in Sweden.
And they are called…
This is absolutely amazing speakers,.as with a good installation plays absolutely wonderful
/Peder🙂
I hope so too as they are connected to capacitors!
Not sure I could sleep soundly at night with that concoction, all secured to a piece of wood! I hope his fire insurance is up to scratch.
Hmm. I’d like to see what happens when I would bring such a power supply (which doubtlessly sounds better) to an airport to pass security …
My first encounter to some sort of computer was this
Programmes were shared over FM radio… was that computer audio 
Ah, open baffle speakers. I haven’t heard any myself, but people do say good things about them. As with any dipole speaker thay feed to be well away from the back walk - and they need a separate box for low bass, which I note there is.
As for construction of prototypes, ckearly some others on the forum don’t indulge, though most of my own constructions have usually been a tad neater (I say usually, because sometimes modifications result in unplanned variations, which could be some of what we see in the pic).
Innocent_Bystander,…There are actually two boxes for the low bass in this system .
You see this on the first image.
Which is an advertising image.
Here above,.we see a picture of a LPS with cables to connect to a MAC Mini.
This is a standard version purchased from the UK.
I have one more,.as my constructor’s friend has.
He will modify and improve it,.then we will compare it against this in the picture,.and see how much better the modified has became.
When he gets time,he will manufacture such a large LPS to me,.as you saw in the picture earlier.
But then in a “box” .
But it is a great improvement in soundquality, also with this LPS in the picture to a Mac Mini.
/Peder🙂
Thanks!! I’m off on vacation for a while, after that it may interesting.
Uptone is selling a modification for external linear PSU and a replacement for the fan controller (which they say generate some electronic noise) for USD 130-140. But they have no version for the latest generation mac minis.
Why that big pile of reservoir caps? I only use the mac mini to serve files via upnp so I mainly want a quiet LPS.
@jan,…Better to remove the fan completely as I wrote about earlier.
Don’t know how it is with the latest version of Mac Minis.
But my construction friend says that the Mac Minis from 2011-2012 sounds best…Preferably from 2012.
@jan,…I don’t know,.must ask him.
But he is incredibly “Attention To Detail”. Develop and Optimizes all the time.
He leaves nothing unexplored.
Both the magazine “Hifi & Music” and “High Fidelity”…when it exist in Sweden,.has made “Home Of”-reportage about this guy.
Even the major Swedish forums that exist,.have visited him to write reportage.
He cooperate with another guy in our group. AudioNord (Leif Häggmark),.has wanted to represent this other guy’s products.
Then you understand the level at which we find ourselves.
/Peder🙂
Jan, there are recent linear ps specially done for the mac mini:
Clones audio linear ps ( see review on Darko audio site)
Mojo audio upgrades for mac mini ( review on audiophillia)
Frenchrooster,…Yes we know about this,.but you can reach farther in soundquality with the measures I have proposed.
Do you not have access to expertise,.which I have through my friend.
So can any of these,.or the one Jan talked about from Uptone be an option.
But start by throwing out the fan,.and make the other measures I’ve written about earlier.
Ps:It will be interesting to try the one that my friend modifies to me.
He switches cables, capacitors, connectors etc, etc.
He had only had my LPS for an hour,.when he called and had several suggestions for improvement.
He has now had my LPS for over four months,.so it is soon time to try it against the standard-version that is on a previous picture in the thread.
/Peder🙂
