Do I need a DAC with the new Apple Mac Mini?

Yes, see About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support

P.S. - Once you've gotten up to at least 44.1 KHz, 16-bit output – i.e., the level that corresponds to CD-Audio – the quality of your speakers or headphones is probably going to make a much bigger difference to sound reproduction than having an audiophile receiver/amplifier or DAC.

On my M2 Mac Mini Pro I tested, using both normal and lossless streaming, the built-in 3.5mm headphone jack and an external ca 100 USD DAC on good quality headphones and found basically no difference. Perhaps if you try on large speakers you might need one. Yes, as stated before, some options require an external DAC. The audible difference is hardly noticeable at all.

You do not need a DAC. Just use the 3.5mm stereo headphone out on your Mac. And a good quality cable. But since the headphone out volume (gain) is variable you may want to play around with the volume setting on your Mac to get an optimum level to feed your amp. In my experience this is at around 70% of maximum volume. If you overdrive the line input with too high volume you will hear the distortion; just pull the Mac's volume back until it stops.

Beyond that, the "quality" of the sound through your HiFi will depend more on the quality of your amp & speakers than any settings in your Mac. Macs are that good.

I have used many Macs over the years with different amps. Currently feeding a midrange Yamaha amp to a pair of vintage Avid speakers & a pair of Infinity Reference speakers in a separate room from my Mac Mini and the audio is incredible.

ps. I have tried HiRes Lossless audio from the Berlin Philharmonic vs. BPhil streaming vs. BPhil CDs and I cannot say that I hear any meaningful difference between them. But the HiRes lossless files are HUGE and I see no reason to waste the disk space on them if I can't hear a real difference. The quality of the underlying recordings is probably so good that the different delivery formats don't mean much. People get all tied up in the tech specs; the real test is what you hear.

No, you don't need a DAC. The Mini has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which implies that it has a DAC built in.

Mac mini (2023) - Technical Specifications

Apple does not specify the sampling rates and bit depths that the built-in DAC supports. There is a program called Audio Midi Setup in the Application / Utilities folder – at least on my ancient iMac, running High Sierra – that Apple supplies with macOS. It has configuration options for built-in and third-party audio devices. On my Mac, it has choices for 16-, 20-, and 24-bit stereo at sampling rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 KHz.

I don't know how accurate the 24-bit setting would be … but this tells me by process of elimination that the built-in audio on this machine won't do, say, 192 KHz, or 5.1-channel surround sound.

If there is a retall store near you with the the new Minis, you could run this program on them (just look at settings; don't change them), and see what comes up. As a starting point, anyway. If you really want to know all there is to know about the Mini's DAC, I think you're going to have to ask Apple – and hope the support people know and will tell you.

The other possibility would to be to get some sort of external DAC.

The current Mac Minis do not have optical (Toslink or coax) audio out.

They do, however have an HDMI out that supports multichannel audio. See Mac mini - Technical Specifications - Apple for more information.

I was just clarifying. Older Mac Minis (for example, the 2014's) had optical digital in & out. But the new current models don't.

Anirym Said:

"Do I need a DAC with the new Apple Mac Mini?: I am thinking of getting an Apple Mac mini, but I love music and wonder if the mac mini will be able to play Hi res lossless without an extra DAC? Thank you for helping me out...."

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Audio Requirements:

No. But, if you want some sort of auto output, then get something with high bass and treble for music and movies. And, if you plan to take part in conference calls, then you'll need something with a Mac on it. Beats or AirPods will work just fine swell.

Anirym Said:

“Thank you for that. but I am sorry to ask, what do you mean ‘some sort of auto output’?”

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Meant to Type: ”audio” not “auto”. Autocorrection can occur at the most inappropriate time, when using a mobile device. Happens to the best of us. “For” is even a word that I see misspelt.

Do you need a DAC, no. Would you want a DAC, that all depends on the quality of your set up and how good your ears are.

In the past, the audio jacks on the back of the Mini were "line level" outputs. Currently, they are now specified as "headphone" jack and with special ability to handle high impedance headphones. The jack would likely be able to drive your receiver/pre-amp input but at what quality would be in question.

What would be better, if your setup has digital input (TOS-LINK or coaxial) or HDMI, it would be best to send the digital signal directly to your setup and let it do the decoding as they tend to have better DACs and codecs.

MartinR wrote:

The current Mac Minis do not have optical (Toslink or coax) audio out.

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I know that but I was implying the use of a USB adapter by stating that the current audio jack was a headphone output. . I should have been more specific.

Yep

<3