Show us your Mac Studio setup!

[lcubed]

Personally, I think Apple should have abandoned internal speakers on the ASD and created a matching pair of externals.

I'm sorry, but if you have any experience with audio, the ASD speakers are not very good at all. Even a fairly inexpensive set of speakers or headphones will make the point easily.

Robert

i'm actually glad the ASD's had a decent internal speakers.
i was able to trash my old external desktop speakers and add the ASD to work with my existing 30" monitor for a dual monitor setup

far better sound quality and no more thumps whenever the flourescent table lamp was turned on or off.

 

[CaptRB]

i'm actually glad the ASD's had a decent internal speakers.
i was able to trash my old external desktop speakers and add the ASD to work with my existing 30" monitor for a dual monitor setup

far better sound quality and no more thumps whenever the flourescent table lamp was turned on or off.

"Decent" is fairly subjective, but still...if you've heard proper speakers, there's just no comparison.

If you're satisfied with the internal speakers, fine. You saved money and space. But there's a reason why good near-field desktop monitors is such a huge market.


Robert

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Personally, I think Apple should have abandoned internal speakers on the ASD and created a matching pair of externals.

I'm sorry, but if you have any experience with audio, the ASD speakers are not very good at all.

The thing is, Apple isn't marketing the ASD's speakers as a replacement for desktop speakers. In fact, in some of their marketing they actually show scenarios with people using external/monitor speakers.

Although not labelled as such, ASD is a prosumer product. Therefore I think the speakers are excellent given limitations of the hardware - they're more than good enough for consumption and mastering basic media - but clearly they're not intended for high-end audio production. They're just a convenient add-on.

 

[lcubed]

"Decent" is fairly subjective, but still...if you've heard proper speakers, there's just no comparison.

If you're satisfied with the internal speakers, fine. You saved money and space. But there's a reason why good near-field desktop monitors is such a huge market.


Robert

my magnepan's in my 'big' system are more than fine, but really don't fit even in the same room as my ASD and mac studio

 

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

Personally, I think Apple should have abandoned internal speakers on the ASD and created a matching pair of externals.

I'm sorry, but if you have any experience with audio, the ASD speakers are not very good at all. Even a fairly inexpensive set of speakers or headphones will make the point easily.

Robert

God no. Im very happy with the speakers in the studio display. I know lots of people would rather have the simplicity of built in speakers like myself as all I use them for is YouTube and Confrence calls. The amount of bass and volume coming out of them are really impressive.

 

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

LOL. I work in film production and just finished a feature, plus shooting another in the fall. I've been setting up high-end systems for years.

Though this is a VERY basic explanation of why discs will (for now) best streaming, it's mostly on point.

4K Blu-ray vs streaming: Which is the best way to watch movies?

Is it worth investing in 4K Blu-ray or will 4K streaming do the job just as well when it comes to watching movies?

www.toptenreviews.com

I fully get that most people don't care about the small differences, but just as with high-end audio, so of us take great care and pleasure in getting the best cinematic experience possible. FYI: Not only is my theater room fully light controlled, it's also treated for sound to minimize reflections and improve fidelity. This stuff only matters to some folks, but the differences can easily be seen by most people. My 17 year old son spot compression artifacts in most streams and we have blazing fast bitrates. Audio is also effected. None of this happens with the discs, which give ALL of the data ALL of the time.


Robert

I've owned high end sounds and TV equipment since the mid 90's so I know what the differences are between streaming and Disc.

My system is Marantz receivers, Bang & Olufsen, Bowers and Wilkins and Sony OLED and they all seem to handle content like champs.

I did comparisons of a HD-Blu-ray disc vs streaming and unless you pause and zoom in you cannot see a difference 95% of the time.

 

[m.x]

A humble but simple setup. I switched out the black keyboard for a white touchID one as I prefer sticking with the white theme. Only further changes I'll make are to get a stand for the display (it's about 5-8 cm too low) and I'm also considering getting another display once they're available at retail Apple stores.

View attachment 1991492

View attachment 1991491

I'm sorry for going off topic, but are you the fcracer with the beautiful photography blog? I found it some time ago and it's by far my favourite Asia blog. Your pictures are really amazing (no wonder with that setup) and as an absolute photography beginner I learned so much from your site, thank you so much for your posts there! I would love to visit China again, and every time the wanderlust kicks in, I browse your blog. Hope you're doing well there (hope not too much trouble with the 大白) and thank you for your beautiful pictures!

 

[Mr. Rod]

This is my little setup. I upgraded from a 2017 5K iMac 27-inch. I went with the base M1 Max 32 GB RAM model + 2 TB SSD. Couldn't be happier with it, fast, clean and super quiet! I mainly use it for my music production and graphic design work.

 

[Mr. Rod]

I see quite a few people here (and in Apple's produce videos) seemingly only using the Magic Trackpad. I keep being them despite only using it on occasion to zoom in

Do people really enjoying using the trackpad for work rather than an mouse? I feel like I get arm/wrist fatigue, but maybe I'm just not used to it.

Using the trackpad only on the desktop has become my favorite input method. I only used mice until 3 or 4 years ago, but I can't go back to that now. You get used to it.

Weirdly enough, when it comes to my Macbook Pro, I prefer using the Magic Mouse instead. The position of the trackpad naturally being in the middle of the laptop, even though it's huge (M1 Pro 16" model), doesn't feel as comfortable to me as using a mouse.

 

[vddobrev]

I've owned high end sounds and TV equipment since the mid 90's so I know what the differences are between streaming and Disc.

My system is Marantz receivers, Bang & Olufsen, Bowers and Wilkins and Sony OLED and they all seem to handle content like champs.

I did comparisons of a HD-Blu-ray disc vs streaming and unless you pause and zoom in you cannot see a difference 95% of the time.

View attachment 2000017

Your center channel is firing towards your ankles - your should know better if you were in the high end audio. And I doubt that puny little sub can fill your room with low end. And the TV is not particularly large either.

On the other hand, your decor is decent.

 

[aurora_sect]

Personally, I think Apple should have abandoned internal speakers on the ASD and created a matching pair of externals.

I'm sorry, but if you have any experience with audio, the ASD speakers are not very good at all. Even a fairly inexpensive set of speakers or headphones will make the point easily.

Robert

I thought that too, but now I am finding that I like the ASD speakers just fine for watching TV. I fire up the interface and studio monitors for dedicated listening and production work. I've never been a fan of home theater bombast and surround sound and all that--though if I'm sitting down for a proper movie watch I will definitely fire up a good two channel system.

 

[CaptRB]

I've owned high end sounds and TV equipment since the mid 90's so I know what the differences are between streaming and Disc.

My system is Marantz receivers, Bang & Olufsen, Bowers and Wilkins and Sony OLED and they all seem to handle content like champs.

I did comparisons of a HD-Blu-ray disc vs streaming and unless you pause and zoom in you cannot see a difference 95% of the time.

View attachment 2000017

You have a small screen and the Marantz stuff is good, but still not high-end. 95% of the time you don't see a difference because of the smaller screen.

Larger screens are likely to show more compression and artifacts. Even then, I want that extra 5% and with a system like mine it's more like a 15% loss, which even more noticeable with sound.

You can easily looks this stuff up and facts are facts. No streaming service has yet matched what a 4K disc can do. Until pretty recently you couldn't even stream sound to a high-end system to match CD's....until Master Quality streaming started with services like Tidal.

For the moment, the best IQ and audio comes from 4K discs.


Robert

 

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

Your center channel is firing towards your ankles - your should know better if you were in the high end audio. And I doubt that puny little sub can fill your room with low end. And the TV is not particularly large either.

On the other hand, your decor is decent.

The sub is louder than is needed by about 4x especially since everything is concrete. The Centre channel is also always blasted from above or bellow the tv and this is also way more than I need. That's my old TV. My new 65" OLED is more than big enough..

 

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

You have a small screen and the Marantz stuff is good, but still not high-end. 95% of the time you don't see a difference because of the smaller screen.

Wow for not high end its the best picture quality I have ever seen anywhere. 65" OLED looks better than even an IMAX movie or laser projectors as they all have horrible black levels.

Tip for everyone. Don't buy "High end" and countless annoying discs when you can get above an have a flawless picture

 

[CaptRB]

Wow for not high end its the best picture quality I have ever seen anywhere. 65" OLED looks better than even an IMAX movie or laser projectors as they all have horrible black levels.

Tip for everyone. Don't buy "High end" and countless annoying discs when you can get above an have a flawless picture

I own a bigger OLED set.

It's a nice TV, but it does not provide the theatrical experience that a proper projection system does. No one complains about black levels on top tier modern projectors.

The theater experience is about a BIG SCREEN. 65" is good for reruns of Gilligan's Island, but I'm not going to watch movies on something that tiny. Sorry, but size does matter!

Robert

 

[CaptRB]

The sub is louder than is needed by about 4x especially since everything is concrete. The Centre channel is also always blasted from above or bellow the tv and this is also way more than I need. That's my old TV. My new 65" OLED is more than big enough..

Proper employment of a sub is not really much about "loudness."

REL S line subs and SVS SB3000's (and better) can reach very low frequencies without sacrificing definition. And concrete will not load bass easily, so a small sub like that will actually be working harder than a sub with superior extension.
In our theater room (solid slab floor covered with acoustic padding under carpet), we use twin SVS-SB3000 subs for home theater, but they're also very capable when matched to the Magnepans because they can be remotely tuned. Combined, the pair can extend down to a measurable 17 hz.


Robert

 

[dizmonk]

Took forever to figure out what I wanted but I basically did a complete desk overhaul with the arrival of the Studio. Call it a (hopefully - toward the end of COVID splurge)....

 

[JamesScheller]

Okay, finally cleaned my desk up enough to take a pic...

...but where, you ask, is the Mac Studio? Thanks to some furniture brackets, some self tapping metal screws and a few wing nuts, it's bolted away from view right under the desk...

I wrote up some long winded thoughts about this setup detailing power and fan noise versus the 2009 Mac Pro this machine replaces here. https://jamesscheller.com/2022-macstudio-versus-2009-mac-pro-review/

 

[Shamgar]

Mac Studio Ultra replaced an i9 Hackintosh tower that lived behind the right side monitor. That spot is now occupied by a much smaller OWC Thunderbay and my headphone hangar. The dedicated gaming PC that was behind the hackintosh is still behind the right monitor with a NAS on top. There's a little bit of a cable clutter below the side monitor that I'm not thrilled with, but it's better. USB-C dock for laptop, wired gaming mice, some cable extensions for the Studio and DP/USB switches for the two desktops require some cabling to be left somewhat loose and accessible.

My previous Hackintosh was built for quiet running, but the Mac Studio is a whole 'nother level. Finding a quieter home for the NAS is now rather desirable to hide the drive chatter, but I have no good alternatives at the moment.

Having a genuine mid-tier Apple desktop that I can use as my audio/video workstation integrated on the same desk as my gaming PC was not something I was expecting to ever happen again, but I wasn't going to compromise on my main 4k/144Hz/HDR1000 display.

 

[dennisbrekke]

 

[WinstonRumfoord]

Got mine a little earlier than anticipated!

Base + 1TB SSD upgrade.
27" and 24" Dell 4K monitors
Ministack STX with a 12TB HDD and 2TB NVME
MX Master 3
Bose Speakers (fighting audiophile people, plz don't judge)

Going to be putting my 27" on an arm as well, and also planning for a standing desk frame.

 

[Turtlebeachbum]

Max base w/1tb uptick. OWC with 6tb ssd storage
Switched from Home Built PC to Mac in cabin. Very pleased with change, MacOS rules!

Shop has PC w/i9 9900k, Quadro RTX 4000 for CAD/CAM. Studio for design & leisure.

 

[MajorFubar]

 

[vddobrev]

@MajorFubar What are those monitor speakers?

 

[MajorFubar]

@MajorFubar What are those monitor speakers?

Kali IN-5