Best Mods for a Mac-mini used as a Music Server

The nice thing about the Mac Mini is that if this all blows up in your face and you hate it as a music server it remains a perfectly cable little PC you can use for something else.

I am currently using an old iMac as my music server through a modestly priced DAC using iTunes and Apple Remote (very convenient). CDs are ripped to ALAC using the free XLR app. 

Currently I'm perfectly happy with this super inexpensive set up and found the SQ to be very close to that of CD on a decent CDP. Sound is warmer and a little less bright that CD.....which my wife actually likes better.

I do not think my ears are as critical as some here.

Mac mini costs about the same as microRendu. A good expendable NAS will cost $400-600. Drives like Western digital Red will be cheaper than external drives that attach directly to a Mac. You won't need as expensive cabling. A linear power supply is recommended in either case.
All in, to get a far superior set up it might cost a bit more, but we are talking $1k additional or less, not $10k+. 
Food for thought if you want to test the deeper waters. 
With the Mac, try Audirvana+ software, best soundwise of many I tried. Cheers,
Spencer 

@sbank 

Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses.  I will definitely take your wisdom into consideration.  I have "seen" a microRendo in my ruminations & googling...I will do some deeper reading.

Dave,  I'm sure by now you're up and running with your Mac Mini, but I wanted to pass along that I have been extremely happy with my Mac Mini that I had modified by Benjamin Zwickel at Mojo Audio.  I purchased a Mojo Audio Watt, external linear power supply, and a Mojo Mystique v2 NOS DAC.  My music is stored on a Synology NAS and I play it through JRiver's Media Center.  As I said, I have been totally pleased with the set-up.

https://www.mojo-audio.com/mac-mini-upgrades/