New Mac mini core ordered; Repurposing old Mac mini core machine

Tinkering
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I love my Mac mini based Roon system. For two or three years my core has worked great on a 2011 mini. I just ordered a new-in-box 2018 i7 with lots of RAM. I wanted a device that can still be upgraded. The 2011 has reached its limit. I have another 2014 Mini that is my desktop and operates a Roon Bridge to a Schitt DAC to amp and bookshelf Klipsch speakers.

My plan is to set up the 2011 as an additional Bridge, using the USB outputs and the HDMI out to feed a currently underused Oppo BDP103. The 103 has sufficient USB inputs to support a Roon feed and my library on hard drive. The 103 also has a HDMI input for the mini’s output. If all goes according to plan, I will feed the 103’s HDMI output to an input on my Sony TV, and from there through eARC to my Sonos Arc system (ARC, Sub3, 1s for surrounds).

I have tried playing my files this way through the Oppo via thumb drive; it all works fine.

In theory, it seems a cool solution. In practice? We’ll see. Anyone here tried a similar scheme? All I know for sure is, using a thumb drive through the Oppo to eARC to the Sonos sounds better - orders of magnitude better - than streaming Roon directly or Airplay. I will report results after I get everything set up.

Comments welcome, yay or nay!

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Sounds like a reasonable plan. The 2018 Mini should work well as a core. Maybe kind of a long way around to feed the Sonos speakers; doesn’t Roon core speak Sonos protocol directly?

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Yes it does, But the sound quality from the Oppo is far better. And though I have only been able to play from a thumb drive so far, my 5.1 MCH files sound better than I expected. Oh, and I still have my “serious” system downstairs with separate 2.1 amp and 5.1 surround AVR feeding Klipsch reference speakers.

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Oppo BDP-103 does not have a USB audio input; only the BDP-105 does.

AJ

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Well, if that’s true, how does that square with the fact that I played 2.0 and 5.1 audio files from a thumb drive through one of two usb inputs on the back of my 103?

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Two usb inputs on back, one on the front. One hdmi input on back and front. It is a cool machine.

At least on mine.

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I am pretty sure you are wrong AJ.

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Thanks, Jim

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There are two kinds of USB ports, upstream and downstream. The upstream kind is the kind you can plug USB drives and such into. The downstream kind is the kind you plug a cable from a computer into so that you can play music from the computer. The type A connectors, the kind you have in the back of the Oppo, are upstream ports. The type B connectors are for the downstream ports, and I don’t see one on the back of that Oppo.

AJ is probably right (he usually is).

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You and AJ may be right, Bill.

I will test it early next week when my new mini arrives and I can set up a Roon Bridge with the old one.

I am not relying only on the USB connection, but since it works with a thumb drive, it might also work with a portable hd containing my library. We will see. But at least the “does not have a USB audio input” claim has been put to rest.

The HDMI input on the 103 will be fed from my old mini in any case, and the output will go to the Sonos ARC.

Thanks for your input!

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Yep, that should work fine, unless the hard drive pulls too much power.

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By “put to rest,” if you mean Oppo BDP-103 lack of USB audio input has been confirmed, that is correct. Tech specs and rear panel photos do not lie. Do not conflate USB file storage with USB audio. Two totally different animals.

Oppo BDP-103:

HDMI Audio: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, AAC, up to 5.1ch/192kHz or 7.1ch/96kHz PCM.
HDMI Video: 480i/480p/576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p/1080p24/1080p25/1080p30, 3D frame-packing 720p/1080p24.
MHL Audio: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, up to 5.1ch/192kHz PCM.
MHL Video: 480i/480p/576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p24/1080p25/1080p30, 3D frame-packing 720p/1080p24.

Oppo BDP-105:

HDMI Audio: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, AAC, up to 5.1ch/192kHz or 7.1ch/96kHz PCM.
HDMI Video: 480i/480p/576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p/1080p24/1080p25/1080p30, 3D frame-packing 720p/1080p24.
MHL Audio: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, up to 5.1ch/192kHz PCM.
MHL Video: 480i/480p/576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p24/1080p25/1080p30, 3D frame-packing
720p/1080p24.
USB Audio: up to 2ch/192kHz PCM, 2ch DSD 2.8224MHz/5.6448MHz
Coaxial/Optical Audio: Dolby Digital, DTS, AAC, up to 2ch/96kHz PCM.

AJ

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My question is this: when I connect a usb drive to one of the usb a ports in back of the 103, and the unit’s menu offers it as an input, and I can select and play full albums or single tracks through that input, and on to my Arc soundbar via HDMI, how is that not a usb audio playback input?

Maybe it won’t accept a Roon feed (and you know I am going to try it), but it plays my files, 2.0 and 5.1, just fine. Technically, you are likely correct. In actuality, it plays for me regardless of the upstream or downstream labels.

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As usual, I switched upstream and downstream in referring to the ports. The type-B port would be an “upstream” port, because it connects upstream to the computer; the type-A port would be a “downstream” port, because it is intended to connect downstream devices (like thumb drives, keyboards, etc.). Jeesh. So confusing. You’d think an engineer named them :rofl: .

From Wikipedia:

Unlike other data buses (such as Ethernet), USB connections are directed; a host device has “downstream” facing ports that connect to the “upstream” facing ports of devices. Only downstream facing ports provide power; this topology was chosen to easily prevent electrical overloads and damaged equipment. Thus, USB cables have different ends: A and B, with different physical connectors for each. Each format has a plug and receptacle defined for each of the A and B ends. A USB cable, by definition, has a plug on each end—one A (or C) and one B (or C)—and the corresponding receptacle is usually on a computer or electronic device. The mini and micro formats may connect to an AB receptacle, which accepts either an A or a B plug, that plug determining the behavior of the receptacle.

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Uh, thanks Bill. I guess.

So, the new mini will be here soon. In the meantime I will remove the core from the old mini and install a Roon Bridge. I know how that works. :grinning:

Once I config the new mini, install a new core and do whatever backup stuff needs doing, I will try it out. It isn’t the end of my project if the USB circus doesn’t work for me. A clean Bridge will be fine. Plus, I will test out to see what’d actually works with those USB A ports. I know a thumb drive does, and maybe a portable hard drive will, too. Yet to be seen (heard). Thanks for your involvement, but my own experimentation will be my guide. Wish I had a 105, but the cost is prohibitive, especially since my 103 is not being used elsewhere.

MIKE

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These inputs on the 105 are usb data inputs, as in a formatted hard disk or flash drive with audio files on it.

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This input, labeled as usb dac, is also a usb input but it Is for streaming audio from a computer or network streamer (which is exactly the port you want but as @WiWavelength has pointed out, the 103 does not have.)

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OK OK. OK.

I never meant to start an e-fight here. I know full well there is no USB B input on the BDP103. Maybe the USB A inputs aren’t labeled as “audio input” ports, but, –wait for it – I can play 2.0 and 5.1 beautifully using them as “faux audio inputs.”

A 32gb thumb drive full of hi-res FLAC files is accepted by the port, accessed by the remote (under the “inputs” section), and the list of files is shown on my 55" Sony. The remote allows me to select the individual tracks or an entire album from the drive.The 103’s HDMI out port is connected to HDMI 2 port on the TV. In eARC mode, the TV acts as a switch for HDMI, sending the music files to my Sonos ARC soundbar.

I keep asking, “how is this not an audio input?”

The sound quality through the Sonos is not close to the results from my reference system, but so what? It is pleasing enough. I have not yet tested connecting a 2TB portable hard drive to the “non-audio inputs”, but I will soon. If it works? Fine.

If it doesn’t work, I can still connect (via Roon Bridge) the Mac mini’s HDMI out port to connect with the HDMI input (the one that does exist on the 103) to access my Roon account. Yes, it is possible to stream directly to the Sonos, but I am betting my combination of the Apple/Oppo electronics fed to the soundbar are better than the Sonos stream.

I fully understand that the “non-audio inputs” won’t play from my Roon Bridge. But, again, with HDMI connections, what does it matter?

Anyway, sorry for causing the flap.

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Absolutely, positively, the rear panel USB A ports are not audio inputs. They are for accessing USB file based storage. Via USB, Oppo also can display JPEG images or MP4 videos, for example.

If you are going to call them “audio” inputs, then they are image and video inputs, too. And all of the USB A ports on your various computers also are “audio” inputs. But nobody does that.

AJ

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So, AJ, what’s your beef with me? Here I am, at 76, expressing my joy with my hobby of 60 years, while you continue to pee in my cornflakes.

“Absolutely, positively, the rear panel USB A ports are not audio inputs. They are for accessing USB file based storage. Via USB, Oppo also can display JPEG images or MP4 videos, for example” is your latest statement about my adventures in digital music playback.

And yet, from the middle of page 43 to the bottom of page 44 of the BDP103 Owner’s Manual, there exists a section (with nifty diagrams and everything) explaining what happens when I connect a portable drive full of music files to either of the USB A inputs of the 103. Playing Music Files the section is titled, explaining how the Oppo will identify, access, playback, et al digital music files on a connected drive. So, maybe the gurus at Oppo had an idea that the ports were accessible as “audio ports,” too, like I do.

In fact, yesterday, I connected a 2TB portable drive with 100 or so 5.1 albums to one of the inputs. The files play fine, just as the OM states; the Sonos Arc will down res them to a level acceptable to the soundbar and play them accordingly. By the end of the weekend, I will have a second drive with a TB of 2.0 files to connect with the other port.

But, according to you, “nobody does that.”

Sure, I wish I had a functioning 105 with a USB B connection, but I don’t. And still I expect to run a Roon Bridge stream from my old mini via HDMI out to the HDMI input in back of the Oppo. I know that will work.

But only if it is OK with you, AJ.

Now, back to my hobby and my cornflakes.

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