I think using a Mac Mini is fine, especially if only using for music playback, get one of these
between Mini and dac and you be fine, later you could always update to something else if need be.
Setting up a Mac mini as a music server, and other digital music questions
@hortense the component that makes the biggest difference to a digital signal is jitter which when taken away to appreciable levels makes you do a double take. I would advise you to look at all digital insertions to see how you can make each of these display as little as possible. |
I had my old MacBook Pro as the source on my system, using a Halide Bridge USB-SPIDF converter to my Dac. Had ALAC files on iTunes, a few 24/96 files and Tidal playing through Audirvana. Was pretty happy with what that gave.
Had considered upgrading to a Mac Mini. That certainly would improve things, but aware there would still be limitations to this. Have ended up changing to a Project Stream Box Ultra 2, with positive reviews, small footprint, and two USB inputs for external drives. |