Dan's modded Mac

uglymusicuglymusic
edited April 2014 in Digital
This discussion was created from comments split from: Apple forcing me to update & causing problems? Or not....

Comments

  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Can you tell us some more about your Mac, please, Dan?

    I'd like to know which mods were worthwhile, and which weren't.
  • DanDan
    edited April 2014
    It's not actually back yet Dave and all being done in one fowl swoop so can't individually discuss the benefits of each.
    I've bought a 2012 mini
    Upgraded it to 8gb ram
    256gb SSD
    The mini will be stripped bare and lined with rfi/emi sheet material and also the ram separately.
    Paul Hynes has wired pure silver from the board to a DC socket and ripped out the switching PSU.
    A PH SR5 will replace it with internal silver mods and external pure silver cable.
    Bluetooth and wifi ripped out also.
    Custom copper heat sink fitted with copper pipes fitted to chassis for heat dissipation, fan removed.
    A separate firewire enclosure (NewerTech Mini Stack) will hold the OS SSD, this case is a replica of the Mac case.
    SOTM Sata filter
    It's lined with Dynamat Extreme and the rfi material.
    Silver sata cable and silver power sata cable to a DC socket.
    PH SR3 PSU to power the SSD. With internal silver mods, uprated hand wound transformer and external pure silver DC cable.
    Enclosures linked with Audioquest Carbon Firewire 800 to 400 cable to isolate power.
    OS will be stripped of all unnecessary processes.
    Amarra for playback
    AudioPhile Inventory for ripping.
    Astintrew Concord powered USB cable with linear supply and the data side of the cable ran with a TQ Black Diamond for data, which from previous experience the TQ really boosts performance of the Concord.
    External Pioneer Bluray writer galvanically isolated and fixed into an Icybox enclosure with linear PSU and a Wireworld Starlight 7 USB.
    AirPort Extreme will have a linear also

    4 x Oriton AC-3 power cables
    600va custom made isolation transformer with gold Furutech iec and gold schukos ran with another AC-3.

    Everything supported by Oriton PU-X isolation feet.

    Think that's it
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Wow! That sounds like a lot of investment.

    Who is doing this for you? It sounds a bit outside Paul Hynes' usual remit.
  • DanDan
    Item will be doing the main mac body oh and I forgot to mention the custom made copper heat sink and pipes to be fabricated instead of fans.
    Paul the power wupplies and I'll do the external enclosure
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    I wondered if Item was involved. I haven't talked to Mark for a while.

    What made you go for the whole hog in one step? Is this destined for a Porcine review?
  • DanDan
    I didn't really want to be without it as a source if it was going to be my main and these individual parts can be a time consuming event each time as Paul and Mark from Item are extremely busy people.

    And yes it will make for a good review in its own right and also as a main source for other rwviews as I tend to take on most of the digital based ones.

    I also had a wee nudge from Tony at Coherant when we discussed in detail a Mac and PC as a source when done correctly and his experience of such machines competing very strongly with some serious cdps.

    I also have been feeling that instead of chopping and changing which is great for some people, I wanted to establish my system to a point where I could consider it done and just enjoy the music without thinking I wish I had a better...

    I'm now at the limit of my budget so I do feel content, well once the Mac is back I hope I will :)
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