Which Mac Mini do I need just for feeding a DAC ?

Ram is more important than processor performance as you are going to be dedicating (or you should dedicate) the mini to the one task of serving your music. Go for as much RAM as you can afford - 8gb is ideal. Consider running a decent music player as well - Amarra / Bit Perfect / Audivarna etc. Newest (2014) models can't upgrade the RAM (it's glued in during manufacture) so you'll need to specify at time of purchase. 

The middle; GBP 569 option, would be a good because once you have upgraded the RAM on the base model to 8GB it's only GBP 90 more expensive and includes a larger HDD. It's also a SATA HDD so you can upgrade it yourself down the line with reasonably inexpensive HDD or SSD options. The extra horsepower is nice but probably not necessary for dedicated music replay.

Be a bit careful with the new mini's because the ram is soldered so not user upgradable and Apple charge a fortune for more ram! Amazon do 2012 models at a very good price.

+1 for the middle option. The base model is a lower spec than the last model. I can also recommend the Western Digital Thunderbolt 8TB HD which can be configured in RAID mode.

Just out of interest Steve why did you choose an external drive rather than a NAS. I take it the WD unit is quiet ?

James

Simplicity James. It is very quiet in operation and there are no nasty network cables or software issues. In RAID mode it backs itself up and the drives can easily be replaced for further backup. The Thunderbolt connection is also very fast for quick transfer of data.

I am interested in this choice - between a NAS and hard drive attached to the Mac Mini.

I have a NAS which I plan to keep and use for Sonos multiroom duties. And as per this thread I plan to buy a Mac Mini to feed my main system for 'proper' listening. On the face of it, it would seem preferable to me to use the same NAS-stored copy of my music to also route via my Mac Mini and on to my main system. I.e. rip each cd to the NAS and then both my Sonos and my Mac Mini can see the same files. However, on another thread, advice was given that it would be better for me to keep a separate copy of my music stored on a hard drive for the Mac Mini, and have software to keep the two copies (NAS library and HD library) in sync - which seems more complex to me though there may well be advantages to that approach. 

Steve J mentions 'nasty netwrok cables or software issues' above. Personally I don't mind routing an ethernet cable to my Mini - I already have one to my Sonos (I presume I would need another separate cable to my Mini). Also I'm not sure what 'software issues' means - I have to install media software such as Audirvana on the Mini, so what other issues are presented by having to access the NAS ? 

I've had two NAS's in my system, both have been PITAses in various ways - computer doesn't "see" them, sometimes can't access the files. I've now relegated the last one to backup duties & use a large WD HD for music storage into an iMac. Much simpler, no annoying problems. I know some folks haven't had any problems with NAS, but I have! I've installed Asset uPnP on the Mac & that lets me access the music on my Mu-so.

You don't have to use Audirvana or similar, you can just use iTunes, but both Audirvana, Bit Perfect and Amarra improve the sound quality and are very straightforward to use.

Thanks Steve. 

Will - my Mac mini runs a small SSD for the internal drive so all my music is stored externally on a NAS. It makes sense for me as i have a network connection into the lounge and can located the (reasonably noisy) NAS to a study. As my Mini and NAS power on and off on a schedule i run a couple of scripts on the Mini to mount the NAS drive before starting iTunes (which is used for library management with XLD as the ripper). My Sonos system just looks at the appropriate music directory on the NAS so no UPnP or other media servers to worry about and it can run independently of the mini in the main lounge system.

There's a man talking from experience. The WD HD is just so simple. I am currently just using iTunes as I've found it now sounds better than Audirvana since Yosemite. I thought Yosemite had improved the overall sound with AV but subsequently found that the sysoptimiser settings on AV, which bypassed the AudioMidi of iTunes, had been switched off during the software upgrade.

Do you still have to go into Audiomidi to switch sample rates and bit depth when using playing files other than 16/44.1 using iTunes ?

I must admit I struggle to understand all the server stuff - don't you need 'some kind of server' for the Mini ? Is iTunes server a UPnP server ? And what about Sonos - how does the music get served from NAS to Sonos ?

Thanks for educating an old man in the modern world ...

Will - apart from feeding a DAC via USB what else are you wanting to do. Have you got music ripped to a hard drive already ?

James

I've got all my music ripped as FLAC on my NAS. From there it goes via Sonos to various locations in the house - including a Sonos Connect feeding to my main system amp, though for proper listening I use my cdp. I want to change my 'proper listening' from cdp to MAC Mini feeding DAC.

Actually I also have a separate MP3 iTunes library on the NAS for synching my iPod (and double rip a new cd to both libraries, once with iTunes to the MP3 library, and once with dbpoweramp to the FLAC library, though planned to harmonise everything to ALAC in the hope of using one library for all uses).

If your ripped collection is less than 1TB the simplest and most reliable way is to just hook the DAC up to the Mini directly and use the NAS as a backup destination. If syncing is too complex just use Time Machine to make the backup. Sonos is equally happy with Mac or NAS.

Additionaly you can make use of the Mini's infrared port to control the iTunes library meaning you can do basic stuff like play/pausek skip forward and back without opening an app. You can also do this with USB on DACs like the V1.

Ah ok. Consolidating libraries is good. If you are going to use a Mac mini to feed a DAC then use iTunes to manage the library. Convert your flac files to AIFF (or ALAC to save space). Sonos will see your iTunes managed library on your NAS. You can still update iPods from the Mac Mini with iTunes - just tick the box to allow iTunes to convert high bit rate material to 256AAC etc on sync. 

No James, I only use iTunes for 16/44 files and then use Audirvana, not in iTunes Integrated Mode, for playing hi res files which I drag into the AV playlist window from the HD. 

+1 

If you get a 2012 model, a good place get RAM is from Crucial.  I went for 16GB as it was good VFM.

Also  agree with others about getting as much RAM as you can afford  at the outset if buying a 2014 model.

The processing power of the base 2014 model is plenty enough, even for hi res files.

In respect of the hard disk, it may be good to get an solid state drive from the outset and not worry about TRIM commands with third party drives in the future.

The Mini is an amazingly versatile beast....

My few penneths 

Although reasonably computer literate I am by no means an expert. Steve J's simple Mac Mini/Hard Drive approach is tempting. When utilising a Mac Mini what do exponents employ to provide the visuals. A compact, but practical solution would be preferable. Since I already have it on my Mac Book I was thinking of using Fidelia as the player software.

Hi Graham,

It was Wat who guided me on the Mac Mini system. You've seen the details above but if you need more just email me. As you have a MacBook Pro you can use the Screen Share facility to use the Mac Mini headless, and if you have an iPad you can use the free Remote App to access iTunes.

I'm just about to 'future proof' the Mac Mini by upping the memory to 16GB and add an internal 256GB SSD. 

ATB

Steve

Thanks for that Steve.

Screen sharing on Macs are a breeze a free.  Just make sure that the display setting on your Mini is set to ' never sleep'

J

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated. I'll get that mid range mini several of you suggested.