Advice on best upgrade path for a Mac Mini setup

Agree that microRendu is incredible and only $650 + choice of power supple; it can stream Tidal, but you will want a NAS to store your own library. You won't need the mac at all unless you choose to use it for running HQ Player or similar to do DSD upsampling and/or EQ. Read the online reviews, especially Connaker's. It's a real Swiss Army knife! Cheers,
Spencer

Wow look away for a day and now I feel obligated to reply to  many posts in this thread! 

First, thanks to @rbstehno for a couple of well informed great posts.

Let me say that from my firsthand experience is based on using MacMini, Audirvana+, (as well as Amarra & Pure Music) Apple Remote for years. I had shootouts in my system with Aurelic Aries (not Aries Mini) including its linear power supply, other servers. I upgraded to Sonore microRendu & a linear power supply as streamer/renderer with my files stored on a Synology NAS in the next room. I run ethernet CAT6A cable to the Sonore(although you don't have to). I use Lumin app on iPad (or Android phone) for controlling the music. The improvement is TREMENDOUS!

IMHO, the advice to run a headless MacMini with internal or external harddrives, use iTunes (or Audirvana+) & Apple remote is good advice FIVE YEARS AGO, but not any longer. Sorry, but the disadvantages mentioned in a few posts are significant. Get the full purpose computer running a big mac O/S or Windows O/S out. Get the big noisy switching psu for the bigger computer out. Get any spinning discs out. Get optical isolation in. Use a single purpose computing solution( e.g microRendu, Aurelic, Aurender,  all running O/S with fewer processes. The mR also has optimized audio board with improved USB output which helps keep noise from getting to your DAC. This stuff is discussed in gory detail daily on a computer audiophile related forum that you should all read before recommending ten year old computing solutions. This stuff has changed too fast! 

Audirvana+ whether running atop iTunes or in its own mode(which sounds better, but introduces many painful database management issues) is not as user friendly as Lumin, Linn Kazoo or Aurelic's DS Lightning app. Library files get corrupted for many users and the fixes are painful; I've been there. 

The Aries Mini is a good product but needs a better power supply to perform at a high level. It's built in DAC is inferior to most audiophile DACS, but good for a starter system on a tight budget. The Aries at $1600 including a good LPS sounds excellent and is closer to the microRendu in sound quality IMHE. The Aurenders also sound good if you don't mind their cost.

As I posted last week, the  microRendu is incredible and only $650 + choice of power supple; it can stream Tidal, but you will want a NAS to store your own library. You won't need the mac at all unless you choose to use it for running HQ Player or similar to do DSD upsampling and/or EQ. Read the online reviews, especially Connaker's. It's a real Swiss Army knife! Cheers,
Spencer 

 

@ryriken66  To switch to A+ without iTunes, you don't need to download anything else. There is a mention option to toggle. The mode using iTunes is called INTEGRATED. You just need to toggle that off. If you don't like their database, you can just as easily toggle back.
Word of caution, many switch then complain about loss of artwork. That's because music ripped/dowloaded via iTunes doesn't imbed art in each track, it keeps it in a separate file. This format is different than A+ and most other software, so you have to add artwork to each song's file if it's missing. Search archives for Dougscripts and/or Yate tag editor for help fixing missing art. Cheers,
Spencer

@jond Yes, I have the microRendu USB output connected directly to the USB input on the back of my Schiit Gungnir Multibit, with the hard adapter that is included with purchase. You can see pic on my system page. It's smaller than a deck of cards. 
Heard good things about Sbooster psu, but haven't heard it myself. Cheers, 
Spencer 

@jond Have you compared wifi to ethernet using the Aries Mini? With many devices, wifi degrades the sound quality. If wiring is inconvenient, some have reported good results using adapters that pass the signal over your home's copper electrical wiring from the router to the streamer. Just a thought...Cheers,
Spencer 

@ghosthouse  Yes, you should still get a clearly audible improvement with a good LPS whether the booster, the Aurelic one that comes with the higher priced Aries or one of many others. The Aries threads on computer audiophile discuss LPS comparisons. 

iTunes doesn't imbed art into each song file. If you bought any music from iTunes store it will be missing art when you look in Lightning or any other software that isn't iTunes. Doug's Scripts has a cheap (~$5) download that will help imbed the art. I use the Mac software Yate which is flexible nice tag editing software. You should still be able to use your mac and find the Seagate drive on your network to edit metatags of music stored there. Cheers,
Spencer