This is a question to those who are running Roon core on the 2018 Mac Mini.
My current core is on a early 2015 MacBook air w/a 1.6 ghz i5 and 8GB of memory.
I just purchase a new mini with 3.2 ghz i7 and 32gb of memory. Unfortunately I have read several articles regarding sound issues w/USB output on the 2018 mini.
Example here: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/285971-apples-latest-macs-have-a-serious-usb-audio-problem. There are many similar reports elsewhere on the web. According to several articles I’ve read it appears to be related to the proprietary T2 apple chip on board. Apple has acknowledged it and reportedly issues some updates, which, according to many users, has not completely addressed the issue.
Before I move my core over to the mini, I wanted to inquire here regarding any potential issues that Roon users may have run into on the new mini. I purchase this machine with the intent of moving my core to a far more powerful machine. Unfortunately I didn’t see these “reports” until after purchase.
It may be nothing, but I thought I’d check here first to see if there was any feedback from those running Core on the 2018 mini.
Thanks in advancec
You can connect this via Ethernet and then use its USB output. Not ideal, since it’s going to run you $131, but if all else fails, it may be an option for you.
Thx for the input Steve. Am very aware of all the usb bridge products that are currently available w/Roon compatibility. Actually most of my Roon zones are hanging off of Sonos components and/or networked Dac’s. I just wanted to be sure that the issues raised didn’t impact Roon playback in general, not necessarily just direct USB playback.
I have a Mac mini 2018 since a few months. My Integrated Amp/DAC is connected with USB.
The only issue I had was with Bluetooth interferences when my External HDD was connected to the USB Type-A. I use a USB dongle to Type-c and now no issues at all.
I have never had any issue at all about sound and I do upsampling DSD256.
I suggest you try for 1 or 2 weeks and you bring it back to the Apple Store if it doesn’t work.
As far as I am aware, the USB Audio issue affecting Mac computers with the T2 chip has been resolved with an update to macOS. There are still some lingering reports online of people seeing issues with audio playback after this update, we cannot speak to their accuracy.
Some of our users are reporting that running Roon on their 2018 Mac mini results high CPU usage that can require a reboot to resolve. We have a device in-house and the QA team is working on replicating these reports.
John et al…
Thanks for the feedback…much appreciated. To be honest Roon is running just fine on MacBook, but I thought since I have this new high horsepower mini…I’d move over my core to take advantage of it. I think I’ll probably wait a bit to see how things settle out with the mini, and move at some point in the future.
Best
Brian