Should I upgrade from a Mac Mini to a dedicated server or should I upgrade my dac?

@verdantaudio 

I have had customers have tons of issues with Mac Minis.  Literally, it created a network issue for a customer so his DAC could not get an IP address.  The mini had to be off whenever he turned on the DAC.  It is not my favorite device. 

Was this with a Bricasti DAC? And was it with Roon?

@audphile1 it was definitely with Roon.  It has happened with Bricasti and Weiss.  I discovered it was a problem with the Mac Mini when I saw people complaining about not getting IP addresses on TVs and Printers in other types of forums. This is not just an audio problem.  The Mac Mini creates problems in lots of applications.
 

the weirdest part is it is only the Mac Mini.  Other apple laptops and desktops do not create the same issue.  It is very bizarre.   

@verdantaudio Interesting, I've never heard of such issues. I'm in IT and I've got lots of Mac endpoints out there. First option should be static IP addresses, next...dhcp reservations.

It's unfortunate that Apple ditched the SP/DIF optical output years ago. We're now forced to deal with USB/C and all the baggage that comes with it.

The new Mini M1 is an amazing computer in of itself. I've played around with it to explore its potential as a streamer. I enjoyed using Audirvana Studio and a trial of Roon. Ultimately I didn't spend too much time on it to wring out its best sound quality.....but it did sound good, not great. 

As an office streamer I think it has great potential with USB conditioning. What I tried to do was dead-head it (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) in my stereo rack. I'd remote into it to launch the mentioned software and use the IOS app to control it. That's what I found frustrating. Roon was pretty good, Audirvana not so much. 

@treynolds155 I hope Apple has improved the Mini and these weird issues go away with it. That said, when I have a customer who tells me a network device doesn’t work, first question is do they have a Mac Mini on the network? If the answer is yes, whether part of audio chain or not, turn it off and then start the device.

@verdantaudio that’s strange. I’ve been using Mac Mini in my system since 2008. First one died after 11 years of pretty much non stop service. The 2018 version is still going strong and is being used only as Roon core.
Granted, the Mini isn’t an awesome streamer by any stretch of imagination but it’s totally fine as a Roon core.
 

I never ran into network problems with it. Other issues like Mac OS upgrade induced Roon bugs yes, could be annoying.

What you’re describing sounds like some sort of a firewall and or compatibility problem with ISP, DACs etc