I understand your question. Here are some quick considerations, from my rather long experience with what was once called “computer audio”.
You have to separate the thinking about where to stock your files and how to manage them — i.e. library management — from how to listen to your music files.
About library management :
- it can be done on a Mac ;
- the files can be either on an attached drive or a NAS ;
- my advice for files management would be to use an application like JRiver ; it has a certain learning curve and it’s not 100 % MacOS friendly, but once you’ve got the grasp of it, it’s hands down the best software for music files management and metadata editing. IMHO anyway.
- You can even rip CDs directly into the library.
- It works with an attached drive as well as with files on a NAS.
- If you stock your files on a NAS, you have the added benefit that they will be accessible for different devices on your network — any network player, your TV, your phone, tablet, etc.
About playing music files:
- The “officially recommended best solution” — i.e. the only one recommended and endorsed by dCS themselves — is using Mosaic software to configure your dCS gear(s) and to pilot the reading/playing from a MinimServer :
- You can install and get MinimServer running on a Mac; it can work either with an attached hard drive or with music files on a NAS.
- However, it seems like the best/easiest solution is to run MinimServer directly on a NAS — a Synology for example.
- I’ve read no one, nowhere, saying that it has found a better sounding solution. So…
- Next solution would be Roon software. There are people who say that it sounds as good as the MinimServer solution and I would say — with the vast majority of the members of this forum, I think — that it can sound either the same or very, very close behind.
- BUT, the sound quality of Roon software is hardware dependent, no matter what one may think about “bits being bits”. Having it run on a dedicated server definitely sounds better — I dare say it — than running it on a iMac or a MacMini — I mean the Roon Core.
- There seems to be a consensus on this forum about the Roon Nucleus being a good balance between convenience and SQ. But it comes with a price tag…
- In all truth, I haven’t tested a Roon Core running on a M1 Mac, only on Intel iMac and Intel Mini. Maybe it could bring the SQ on par with a Roon Nucleus ? I don’t know → to be evaluated.
- About Aiplay : it doesn’t provide the highest sound quality, even in 16/44. BUT it’s a most welcome convenience permitting to listen, for example, to the Digital Concert Hall ( Berliner Philharmoniker archives and live concerts), iDagio to discover classical music or “relaxed background listening”, etc. I can assure you that a concert from the Digital Concert Hall played on an iPad Pro 12.9" and streamed into a Bartók or a Rossini is absolutely breathtaking ! I absolutely beg dCS to never let down this possibility, even if it’s not the last word in sound quality !
- Let’s not forget that you can also connect a CD transport or a server à la Aurender or Innuos. But it takes a lot of money to bring it on par with network listening, and even more to better it ! In the case of a CD/SACD transport, we are talking about something like a Rossini Transport + cables, i.e. around 30’000 (GBP/USD/Euros). And in the case of an Aurender server, it’s not garanted that even a 20 K solution would be on par with listnening from a MinimServer.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity for this brief recap. I think we could maybe open a dedicated thread in case someone would have much to add to the above.
My two cents.
Olivier :-{)