Sorry Carl, I'm not trying to go way off topic the way these things are wont to do. I can imagine alarm bells ringing right now.

Pauli, the Mac Mini is in a better position simply because it has HDMI, I have looked at HTPC in the past and came to the same conclusion as you, life is too short.

BUT, what I was actually thinking was that you already have a MacBook, you could try PureMusic for free for 15 days, Dont even bother with the external USB/optical DAC widget and just see what it sounds like.

Maybe Ronnie will chip in, I certainly don't want to put words in his mouth, but you may be surprised and it gives you a platform to build a ripped music collection so if you do go Sooloos, nothing has been lost.

For me Plex as a front end to movies (so I lose the PopcornHour A200), Elagato TV so I have a PVR and PureMusic for, well, music using apple remote via iPad.

Very flexible and good value for money.

M owner since '97