2010 versus 2011 mac mini

[esimms86]

I sold my custom build Sandy bridge hexcore PC and went instead with a 2010 mac mini. The sound is very satisfying with (1)Audirvana Plus running on mac os Snow Leopard and with (2)XXHigh End running on Windows 7 Professional in Boot camp mode. XXHE, not surprising, is preferred for listening but there is one hitch. With the core duo Intel 2010 mac mini useful SFS settings max out at 170. I was wondering how much the SFS setting really matters for getting the best sound possible out of XXHE as I am contemplating upgrading to a 2011 mac mini server running at 2.0 GHz quad core with the Intel core i7 chip. I further wonder if there are other gains to be had aside from SFS capability when pairing XXHE with a better processor. Of course, I can save my money to spend on more music if the 2011 mac mini won't net me any appreciable gains over the 2010 model. As an aside, there are always rumors about a 2012 model but nothing reliable has surfaced and Apple, anyway, holds their cards close to the vest(that is to say, they're secretive) when it comes to upcoming product rollouts.

Esau 

P.S.
 - I realize that the 2011 mac mini should also benefit from having XXHE on a spinning drive rather than on a SSD.

[PeterSt]

Hi there Esau,

My take : a quad processor (especially the i7 with Hyperthreading) for sure will matter. But you won't find many comparisons etc. in here because just everybody has one ... (or hasn't and hasn't compared). Furthermore this comparison may just be too difficult because of so many other things playing a role at the same time (meaning : once you hopped over to an i7 machine, you upgraded quite a few things more).

On the SFS thing ... well, search for it and find 100s of posts about it. It is *the* key SQ parameter ...
But judge yourself. Or otherwise maybe others can objectively help. Anyway, I say : have yourself a machine which can max it out (which is 500 theoretically) so you can find your sweetspot (which never is very close to the max you can obtain - like mine is 430).

- I realize that the 2011 mac mini should also benefit from having XXHE on a spinning drive rather than on a SSD.

No need to say this to please me. Not everybody experiences this the same. But the debate about it is a bit over (in here), and people judge for themselves since they know it at least does make a difference ...

Best regards,
Peter