Thanks for the reply. I should have phrased the first question better. Can you hook up to both a nas wirelessly and external usb hard drive so one can play either or....thanks
Yes - if it's like the Aries (likely) they'd be treated as separate libraries. So no mix & match playlist. Remember that you'll also be able to insert an internal 2.5 hard drive, so that's another alternative vs NAS or external USB.
For XM you could always airplay to the Aries Mini from an iPhone / iPad / mac computer.
Aside from Schiit products, don't know of any other commercial streamer / dac that has upgradeable internals, particularly at that price.
To me there's very little risk to getting an Aries Mini, particularly if you value the year of Tidal service. If you don't like it you could likely resell it at cost (less the Tidal service) to someone who wants one without the Tidal service.
As for SQ vs a Mac Mini - I think they are going to be broadly similar particularly because of the switching power supplies in each which is a bottle neck. You'll of course be able to tweak the sound more with a Mac Mini - i.e. via different player software and the options that provide (i.e. Audiovarna / Pure Music / JRiver + eq'ing etc), but on the other hand the Aries has the virtue of simplicity, lower maintenance, and to some degree greater ease of use. Those are all important factors if your primary concern is listening to music vs tinkering w/ a computer.
