![]() All you have to do is to run a cable from the Dragonfly to your AVR’s analog inputs. It’s about the size of a thumb drive and it plugs right into one of your mini’s USB jacks. It’s marketed as a headphone amplifier, but it works quite well as a dedicated DAC. If you’d like to get the most bang for the buck, invest $100 in an Audioquest Dragonfly Black DAC. Frankly, an AVR that lacks a USB input suggests a lower-end system, or an older one. Nowadays, the Macs I see most often used for audio are the Mac Mini or a Mac portable. Some folks (like me) even use a MacPro desktop machine for audio duties. ![]() An iMac is also a good option and the monitor is built-in. If your overall system is in the high 4 figure or low 5 figure range or more, then it’s definitely worth your while investing a bit more. A Mac Mini is less expensive initially, but it does require an external monitor and keyboard for full functionality. If your investment is at the lower end of the spectrum, you might as well get Spotify. It’s difficult to make specific recommendations without knowing your overall setup. I have a 6TB collection of high-res music, so I have good reason to use a dedicated Mac mini as part of an overall Mac-centric network. Some of the better AVRs have integrated Tidal and Qobuz connectivity too. If your only intent is to stream Tidal or Qobuz, there are plenty of dedicated streamers that are plug and play that may well work better for you. There is also no getting away from using a mouse and keyboard with a mini - it’s just not designed to run headless.You can set it up to reboot automatically and start up in a user account, and you can automatically load Audirvana+, but sooner or later you’ll need to upgrade something or reconfigure something, and screen sharing only gets you so far. Follow along as we show you how to turn an old Mac notebook or desktop into a dedicated NAS drive, torrent box, media server, and what have you. What I think I’m trying to say is that an old Mac mini is a commitment to a server platform that will force you to invest a lot more down the road. Because macOS is so easy to configure for file sharing, any old Mac mini, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air can become a versatile server that networked devices can access and use. By then I’d already invested in a 16TB RAID array and upgraded my broadband, and wasn’t about to change directions, so I ended up buying a new Mac mini with a Core i7 processor for around $2k. I tried setting it up as a DVR but it crashed so often that it was worse than useless. It had a Core Duo Intel CPU and it just didn’t handle streaming very well, particularly when it came to video. I started out with my mother-in-law’s old Mac mini, reasoning that since it didn’t cost me anything, I might as well use it as a media server.
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