Mac mini may sound purdy good. But dealing with all the patches/security upgrades is a headache. Go for a dedicated streamer. +1 on the Raspberry Pi. I found a Bryston BDP Pi used for $500 (basically a Raspberry Pi). Manic Moose interface is spartan at best but the SQ is excellent. You can get a SGC Sonic Transport and Micro Rendu for less than $2K. Run The Roons or BubbleUPnP.
Streaming Transport without DAC- few choices
I already have a very good DAC. I already have a very good preamp. There seems to be a dearth of streaming transports under $2000 which noes not include a DAC, does not include preamp function or does not include both.
So tempted to just get a Mac mini and use that as a dedicated transport/server, played through audirvana
So tempted to just get a Mac mini and use that as a dedicated transport/server, played through audirvana