No experience with the Mac Mini but I recently put together a low budget system with a 10+ year old iMac. I'm currently using just iTunes because I could not hear a significant difference between that and iTunes with BitPerfect or Audirvana. This is through a low end Schiit Modi 2 Uber.
The advantages? Cheap. Simple. Apple Remote works great.
A/B testing vs straight CD reveals clear differences. CD is brighter but sometimes too bright compared to iTunes/Schiit. In blind A/B testing my wife preferred the iTunes/Schiit to CD.
One advantage of the Mac Mini is its size and this article explains how to set one up and even ditch the monitor once it is done.
https://www.psaudio.com/ps_how/how-to-build-a-music-server/
The advantages? Cheap. Simple. Apple Remote works great.
A/B testing vs straight CD reveals clear differences. CD is brighter but sometimes too bright compared to iTunes/Schiit. In blind A/B testing my wife preferred the iTunes/Schiit to CD.
One advantage of the Mac Mini is its size and this article explains how to set one up and even ditch the monitor once it is done.
https://www.psaudio.com/ps_how/how-to-build-a-music-server/