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RE: Mac Mini/iTunes--Please help me AbeCollins!

Some older Mac Minis and the newer entry level units are fine for basic music ripping and playback. However, there are software players you may want to experiment with as you gain more experience and some of them work better with a faster processor and more memory.

Whatever Mac Mini you choose, I would get 8GB or more for RAM and a SSD. Players like Audirvana Plus and Pure Music benefit from more RAM when enabling the 'memory play' feature. Players like Roon benefit from faster database indexing with SSD.

HQPlayer is the outlier that benefits greatly from the fastest CPU. It can be a CPU hog! Bottom line is, unless you will be using HQPlayer a modest CPU is fine.

2009 & 2010 Mac Minis use Intel Core 2 duo processors. Newer ones use Intel i5 or i7, which are better.

As for HDMI, I have used older Mac Mini's with DVI-to-HDMI cables to the TV/Monitor. However, it didn't carry the audio signal. You will have to bring audio out separately from the Mini to the TV/Monitor for Netflix, or route the audio separately to your DAC (USB / Toslink 3.5mm). We're talking pretty old Mac Minis which I would not recommend today.

I have also used Display Port to HDMI adapter cables. The static video quality is fine. I've never streamed Netflix thru any of my Minis so I cannot comment.

You can rip using iTunes and also use iTunes to fetch Album art over the internet. XLD is excellent but as you've discovered will require a bit more setup.

Linked below is a Mac Mini wiki that shows the history of Mac Mini along with their capabilities through the generations. Also, beware that the latest OS is macOS Sierra. If you want to run that OS, here are the general system requirements:


MacBook (Late 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
iMac (Late 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)


P.S. Audirvana Plus and Pure Music are outstanding. Roon is great! My experience with BitPerfect was pretty sad but that was a long time ago. It would sometimes lockup and not work. I haven't tried it since.



Edits: 02/17/17

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