Music Serviers: Wyred 4 Sound MS-2 or Aurender N100H

Quick question before you do that, have you tried using the Roon software  to control your Mac mini-based server?   I can certainly see how using a small computer to manage your music could be complicated, annoying, or frustrating,  I went through the same process! but once I got mine set up in a very good way with very good software, the results have been just outstanding and extremely convenient. What DAC are you using?   Music servers can obviously be a very attractive option for you, but they are expensive. My thinking would be to use that budget for a significant DAC upgrade (or just save the money) and give the Mac mini one more shot  with a different set up. I'd be happy to explain what I did from computer all the way to DAC.  Feel free to give me a call or text message. 305-775-3020. Cheers, Mark

CDC2,

super curious, do you work for the center for disease control? If so, we may have a friend in common!

my Mac mini is also old - vintage 2010, las of the onboard optical drives. I also struggled with it for a while, trying J River, Audirvana, pure music, etc.

Roon was the game changer.  No need to do the shared screen thing, Roon works with a controlling device (phone, laptop, tablet) which in turn communicates with the source Mac mini. I leave the Mac on at all times, and set it to restart once a day at 4am, and install any updates automatically.  I upgraded the internal hard drive to solid state, and maxed up the ram. Solid!

roon is the best app/software for music that I have ever seen. Sonos has a great app. Roon is better. The fact that they are a software company is significant. They have to keep customers! A hardware makers app doesn't require the level of development and improvements that a software subscription will require. I challenge anyone to use Roon for a month and find better software.

i adore my dac. It is the PS Audio Perfect Wave Dac mkII with Bridge 2.  Hard core stuff. $4800 new, can be found for way less of course now as it is showing it's age a little.

The Roon - PS Audio Bridge 2 combo is deadly. Bridge 2 is also available on newer PS Audio products.  It allows one to bypass "playing" the music on the computer and instead the Bridge network card "plays" the music. ( need Bridge 2 for Roon).  The connection is via Ethernet.

Feel free to call me, I'd be glad to share more details