Best music server for the money

Sony HAP Z1ES. Computer Audio without the computer.

Also available modified by Modwright or RedWineAudio if you wish.

Please check out the Baetis Revolution; it is far superior to any options thus far listed and has more features and flexibility than the Antipodes for less money. I believe it was reviewed in the February Absolute Sound and received rave reviews. If you buy it, you will learn quickly that the rush to DSD DACs is premature and high resolution files including DSD files sound better through the Baetis BNC connection and played back in PCM than DSD and high resolution sound sent over a USB and played back in DSD format. This is the secret in audio that so few computer audio reviewers, let alone consumers have figured out. Baetis is educating the masses; please do your homework and call them to discuss my claims, they will explain it better than I ever could.

Every 1 of these options requires a computer. How are you going to rip music to a NAS drive? Also, how are you going to backup the NAS drive or any drive you use? If you go with any of these servers listed above with internal disks, you have to ask the questions since nobody lists these:
How do you backup the data
How do you increase disk capacity
If you buy 1 of these servers above that has a dac inside, how do you update the dac with new features that will be coming out? Dsd2 for example.
Because of all this, and with the quality of the output, I use a dedicated Mac mini with audirvana plus with multiple multi TB FireWire disks so there is fault tolerance with an external DAC all controlled thru ipad

Ripping CDs IMHO is a non issue. Even the new Minis don't have an optical drive anymore.

As for back ups, I agree that it could be an issue.

But the Sony does provide an app for you to make back ups of the music library. I personally like the ability of the Sony to run with local music files rather than trying to retrieve it off a network device.

FWIW I don't own the Sony but I see it as a way to get the computer out of computer audio. I too run a Mac Mini with JRiver and iTunes at the moment.

Rbstehno,
Very valid questions, thanks! got me thinking. BTW, the developer in Mojo Audio explains why NAS isn't that good an idea for audio and what is a much better alternative sound wise, cheaper too.
"There is a common misconception that NAS drives are best for media server performance. NAS drives are optimized for multi-user file storage. For a single-user media server an AV drive has better performance. "

it's somewhere towards the end of his lengthy text. He doesn't specifically mentions the sound quality but he means it from what I figured out researching the topic

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/media-servers-mojo-audio-mac-mini-psu-upgrade-kit-b-stock-sale-2014-04-27-computer-audio-87106#TBDxHHiEcZjmtiXU.99