[superczar]

Sorry if this sounds like a repeat, but I did search around and couldn't really find an exact answer...

I recently treated myself to a Marantz PM17 integrated Amplifier (Analog input only) and a pair of Phase Tech Velocity V12 speakers..
I have them currently hooked up to the onboard audio out on my Mac Mini G4

I suppose it is needless to say that the onboard audio out is not doing full justice to the latent potential of the audio setup.....

Now since the Mini Mac cannot take a PCI card, I am limited to choosing a USB solution
Am COnsidering the following options:
a) M-Audio Transit
b) E-Mu 0202
c) Third and last option is to get a decent PCI card (say E-Mu 0404), and couple the system with my desktop (But my noisy monster desktop is full of whirring fans all over)

what would you folks say?
Need help fast as I am based out of India where getting good quality USB DACs is difficult (The markets here have mostly PCI solutions for audio) and I have a friend coming over back this Friday from NYC, so I can ask him to get whatever I need
Thanks....

 

[lini]

Doesn't the original Mac Mini sport FireWire, too? That should give you quite a few more interesting options...

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[superczar]

Yeah, it does have firewire....

Lurking around the forum, I also discovered that a pure DAC like the Silverstone EB01 falls within my budget ..

So since i have to run an analog amplifier, whicih of the two options would be better:

Mac Mini --> Silverstone EB01 --> RCA Out to Marantz PM17

Mac Mini --> M-Audio Transit --> RCA Out to Marantz PM17

Ugly big desktop --> EMU 0404 PCI --> RCA out to Marantz PM17

And then the firewire otion as pointed out above

 

[lini]

I wouldn't call the EB01 a pure DAC, 'cause it only sports a USB input - not a bad product, though. Output level seemed unusually low, however, and SNR could be a tad better, too. But the sound quality seemed fairly good.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[granodemostasa]

the M-Audio audiophile usb could be found for less than 100 on ebay ;D

 

[superczar]

Sorry if sounds very n00b but is the M-Audio transit any good....

Some of my friends have heaped showers of praise on EMU products and the EMU 0202 seems worthy of a look

And If i were to rate the line -out on my Mac Mini as a reference level of 5 on a scale of 1-10, where should I place say

1- The M-Audio transit
2- EMU 0202 USB
3- A PCI solution like EMU 0404

 

[ixeo]

M-Audio Sonica w/ Black Gate caps.. pretty good for the price

though you'll need an amp cause its line-out..another + point

 

[superczar]

Here is something funny ...Last night, I borrowed a Friend's Creative X-Fi Platinum (which is supposedly a very good, if not an excellent PCI Sound card)

I had done a lot of Googling to find out how good is the Mac Mini's internal audio output but couldn't find much info, so The idea here was to subjectively test how good the X-Fi Platium sounds compared to the Mac Mini's internal audio ....

Test setup

Common equipment and software

Marantz Reference Integrated Amplifier PM17 mkII
Phase Tech V12 (2X7" VDT woofer & Midrange + 1" Domes)

FLAC files of the following tracks:
On every Street - Dire Straits
Sunrise- Norah Jones

ACDs
Metallica: ...And Justice For All
Eagles- HFO
Dire Straits- Brothers in Arms


Contenders:

- x86s Creative X-Fi Platinum set to run in ASIO mode, 44.1 khz/16 bit running on a Asus A8V deluxe/AMD 64 (Winchester ) 3200

- Mac Mini's internal audio (Apple custom audio chip )

- Just for kicks, the onboard Realtek sound on my Asus A8V

Needless to say , the Realtek Audio chipset was given the boot early on...the sound was muddy to say the least, the background cymbals on the Dire straits sounded like a bell chime and there was barely any distinction between the bass guitar riffs and the pounding of the bass drum (Ok not this bad, but you get the picture)

Needless to say the Creative sounded excellent...

The surprise contender was the Mac Mini though...

Apparently the Mini Audio does support native core-audio support for 44.1khz- 16/24 bit audio without any up/down sampling, I did have moderate expectations from it, but the stereo output more than exceeded them!

Sequential testing of the same tracks over & over again (On every street/Brothers in Arms) didn't help much...The sound was marginally different but I couldn't still point out which sounded better

So I hooked the Mini and the X-Fi outputs to separate line- ins on the Amp,
fired up the same track simultaneously on both, reclined back, and tried switching between the two in short intervals so as to hear the same passage .....

The difference I noticed this time was that the Creative sounded brighter overall, though the bass on the Mini sounded more controlled...So I guess in the end, it's a matter of personal taste...

But the result was surprising to say the least!

Perhaps something to do with the fact that the Creative is tuned more towards a 5.1 setup and I had switched off all digital processing on the EAX chip and running it in ASIO mode thereby just utilizing the DACs on the card, so I had effectively switched off 90% of the circuitry on the card...

But for a pure Analog stereo setup, the Mac Mini's audio was more than competitive to say the least...

Disclaimer: I am no golden eared stereophile, not even silver, maybe more brass eared moving towards silver

Now here is where my doubt comes
If the Mini's internal audio was pretty much at par with the Creative X-fi, would I really see much of a benefit by going in for an external USB device like the M-Audio transit or the EMU 0202 USB ?

 

[superczar]

The EMU 0202 USB seems to be unavailable here in India..So I have ordered a Transit
And hoping to see a perceptible improvement over the in-build audio on the Mini *Fingers crossed*