I have an old 2012 Mac mini just lying around, I would love to repurpose it.
How well do you think it would handle Roon core? I would be playing to a single raspberry pi connected to a dac. The only DSP I would be doing is headphone EQ and the Audeze headphone preset.
These are the specs of the Mac mini
2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 6MB L3 cache
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 memory
256GB SSD
It depends on itās OS version, see this Roon knowledge base article and screenshot ā¦ but you could still use OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher to update Mac OS ā¦
Absolutely. Only āproblemā will be support for the MacOS that can run on that hardware. But a cheap NUC with ROCK, Will work better. Iāve had the same setup as you, used headless with only Roon running on the Mac mini, but my low spec 2nd hand NUC runs much better.
If you like to continue with a Mac mini, you can pick up a newer refurbished one for not a lot of money.
Iām totally unfamiliar with macs but couldnāt you install Linux on it?
I have the same era Mac. I installed Linux (Unbuntu) and then Roon - works like a dream - just sits there never needs rebooting (I donāt even have a keyboard/monitor connected) been running two years happy as can be.
Got the same as @terzinator and mine also works flawlessly. Never needs rebooting. I do plan on replacing it with another new Mac Mini fairly soon though as It wonāt last forever
I have a 2014 Mac Mini running on the latest version of Linux Mint. It has been running my Roon Server for a year now without issues. Iām updating Linux once a month and then I will also give it a fresh reboot.
The system has a 2.6 GHz i5 CPU and 8 gigabytes of RAM. Linux is installed on a 250 gb SSD connected to one of the USB ports. While my local collection of music is stored on the internal 1 tb hard drive.
I āve had the Mini play to 3 different endpoints at the same time. While using volume leveling to all of them without any issues. Roon ARC works flawlessly as well.
Your Mini should serve you just fine. Linux is a solid choice if you want to use a modern and supported operating system.
i also used a 2012 quad core mac mini with 16g ram and 256g ssd for years with ubuntu server and one zone.
my library contains around 80k tracks and the mac uses usually less than 4g ram. dsp was only used for some resampling tasks and used less cpu load. some trials with room correction worked also fine.
with this configuration the fan was only noticeable if i go very! close to the mac.
so try it and if it works ok save the money 
off topic: currently i used roon in a container on my nas (ts-410e) with 8g ram and also no issues and no noise.
My Roon Server sits at around 3.6-3.8 gb of RAM used with a 57k track library. So thatās very similar indeed. Volume leveling isnāt an issue here either even though my Mini only has a dual core i5 CPU. 
If you have Catalina on the MacMini it will be fine as a dedicated Server, running Roon 2.0 without any upgrades, as the key requirement is the SSD drive.
Iām using a 2010 iMac which maxed out at High Sierra so it could only run Roon 1.8 but a simple āupgradeā using this tutorial, from [dosdude1],
(https://www.youtube.com/@dosdude1)
enabled installation of Catalina and Roon 2.0 (which is a big improvement on 1.8).
Both Time Machine and SuperDuper work for backing up which isnāt available with later OS installs using OpenCoreLegacyPatcher. While OCLP is an heroic project it was a merry-go-round I soon jumped off without backup capability.
There are 3 drives attached to the iMac, an SSD for iTunes and Roonās Music files, and 2 spinners for Time Machine and SuperDuper.
I fitted a 1TB SSD (the screen was only held on by magnets!) and bought a Lifetime subscription which seemed better value than a Nucleus or a Nook.
Regarding ARC, I understand that itās not a good idea to use it unless the OS is still supported with security updates.
Barely. I had I 2014 Mac mini with 256gb ssd. It was struggling so I went the NUC route instead now. Never looked back.
