A $500 Mac Mini, similar compact PC, or the tiny $50 Inovato PC that inmate misstl posted will do the job but none of these are pre-made turnkey appliances.
I'd be curious to see what others might recommend to meet your every need:
- USB input on the back for your SSD based FLAC files
- USB output for your DAC
- HDMI out to your computer monitor
- A decent system for browsing the files on the SSD*
- Not interested in servers, ethernet, raspberry pi.
- Can it have WiFi capability?
- Can it be portable / handheld?
- Or must it be 'shelf-sized' to reside in your audio rack?
* This bit is too vague and requires more information. How will you interact with this browsing system? A keyboard + mouse (like every PC has)? Will this commercially made device need it's own touch screen? How large? AND it needs to drive your HDMI monitor too (like a PC does)? Hmm, sounds like a PC/Mac to me, maybe a touchscreen PC.
But.... I'm thinking possibly the Bluesound Node for $450 - $500 but I don't think it meets your every need.
