What's running on your audio server? And why?

edited January 2012 in Digital
My White MacBook has:
  • OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) with some of its background processes switched off
  • iTunes for library management and control via iOS's Remote app
  • Audirvana+ for playback. It's the best I've heard
  • Audio Hijack Pro - for EQ
  • smcFanControl - to keep fan RPM and hence noise down
That's been pretty much stable for some time now.

What apps have you installed or tweaks have you made that I should think about for my audio server?

Comments

  • I used to have a wooden hippo on top of my McMini.

    With the exception of AHP, I am the same as yours, I also stuck with Snow Leopard.
  • snowy here with pure music in hog mode through firewire from 202 to macbook pro - sublime.
    only app is the i-tunes remote for ipod control of system whenever needed - very stable all round.
  • For playback, I've got a pretty much stock Mac Mini, running iTunes/BitPerfect and Spotify, under Snow Leopard. Output is via an M-Audio Audiophile USB box. Its my main 'puter, so obviously runs browsers, mail clients, Gimp, XCode, Eclipse, etc

    However all my tunes are on the server in the loft. This is a bodged together Linux PC, filled with stacks of drives. It has two network cards to act as house firewall/router, runs mail server, file server, MythTV PVR server, Minecraft Server, Webserver (Apache & Tomcat), acts as Timemachine backup drive, DLNA server and probably other shit I've forgotten.

    Got gigabit cable around house (though only Mac Mini, PS3 and maybe the TV use it). Got Wifi Access point for laptops. Laser printer and standalone Skype phone also hang off network.

    Does all this shit degrade sound quality? Nah, its handles it all fine... :-)
  • Functionally, it's not so different from what I have here. My NAS is a Linux PC, in effect, and it and my MacBook are on a GigaBit Ethernet. The rest is on wireless.
  • MacMini (mid 2010), all processes switched off, running OS 10.7, Lion.  Playback through PureMusic (1.85), music stored on external HD on FW800 bus, and output on USB bus to Young Dac.  Control is through Remote, and Rowmote Pro (which is a v useful nice little app - one of the few that I paid for).

    It does good.
    Andy
Sign In or Register to comment.