Mac Mini Upgrades

I get massive improvements using a CDP or the Lampizator transport instead of my Macbook (which is not optimized at all for music I admit). I will get to compare in a couple of months using the Auralic Streamer, Aurender, and a modded laptop, so then I will know

Bernard said:

I wonder how much that setup cost him.

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An awful lot of money for a "Placebo pill"......

bonzo said:

Got this reply from a guy on What's Best who, imo, totally knows his stuff and has experimented a lot.

"My Mac Mini is on a battery power supply (Red Wine Audio Black Lightning), the OS is on a SDHC card, the player and music tracks are buffered to a RAMdisk and the Mini is on Stillpoints on top of a Synergistic Tranquility Base: these tweaks make for a night-and-day difference in performance over a stock Mini. I had the $17K EMM TSDX transport to match my DAC2X and the modded Mini left it in the dust"

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I haven't tried any of these particular products on my Mac Mini, but I can attest to the fact that vibration control devices do make a difference. As for the Red Wine Black Lightning, that is something I attend to try at some point, given that it would allow me to completely take my Mac Mini off of my power grid while in use. Jeff Dorgay reviewed the RWBL for his online mag, using it with a Nagra phono stage. He raves about it. Others swear by the Tranquility Base, but I would only try that on a money-back guarantee basis.

I use Stillpoints on other equipment in my system with excellent results, but I haven't compared them to Shun Mook products.

I sold off my Stillpoints immediately on hearing the Shun mooks. You will find the same view from people who have tried it. Others will pretend to be engineers and not listen to it. Controversial product.

How is RWBL different from using a power regenerator like Purepower or PS audio

bonzo said:

How is RWBL different from using a power regenerator like Purepower or PS audio

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The Red Wine Black Lightning is a battery power supply that takes current from the wall and supplies battery power to the component attached to it. You charge up the Black Lightning and then unplug it when using the component. It is meant to disengage the connected component from your power grid. It is not a power conditioner like the PP or PS Audio. Here is a review of it: http://www.tonepublications.com/review/the-red-wine-audio-black-lightning-dc-power-supply/

Thans but does one expect a SQ differency if you plug a CD player or dac to this as compared to a power gen?

Based on reviews of battery PSs in general, apparently so.

I guess to use the RWBL on a preamp or dac one would need to take out the switching supply inside the component to feed the DC in directly?

asindc said:

The Red Wine Black Lightning is a battery power supply that takes current from the wall and supplies battery power to the component attached to it. You charge up the Black Lightning and then unplug it when using the component. It is meant to disengage the connected component from your power grid. It is not a power conditioner like the PP or PS Audio. Here is a review of it: http://www.tonepublications.com/review/the-red-wine-audio-black-lightning-dc-power-supply/

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The review implies that you don't have to unplug the Black Lightning when using the component.

Bernard said:

The review implies that you don't have to unplug the Black Lightning when using the component.

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Exactly. Only needs to be plugged in while charging.

asindc said:

Exactly. Only needs to be plugged in while charging.

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The way I read the review is that it has to be plugged in at all times. When playing, the charging circuit is disconnected internally, but when the voltage drops below a certain level, the battery is disconnected from the component being powered; the battery is then plugged into the charging circuit. It does not have to be manually plugged or unplugged.