[ohhgourami]

  No surround sound, only two channel.
I do have some cd's and a disc drive but if nothing else I can just import them to my current pc move them to a external hard drive then move them to the new computer.  I rarely get new CD's
I just looked my current PC has 450 gigs and says 229 are free...  I move stuff I rarely use to my external hard drive so storage should not be a problem
will the mother board have the outputs I want?  If I don't use a sound card or a disc drive where will my audio and video outs come from?

If you use that less storage, a 256gb SSD should be okay and continue using external storage. Even then, 500gb SSDs are starting to hit ~$300 which is relatively cheap.
 
Does your DAC not have USB input?
 
If you build around a passive ITX case, this motherboard would be a great option for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128615
Has dual HDMI out and DVI plus built-in wifi.

 

[awsanderson]

DAC does have a usb and that is what I'm using now but everyone swears by SPDIF, I even had to add the usb as an option from Schiit.  Also not sure if future DAC will have USB

 

[ohhgourami]

USB is perfectly fine. Not all SPDIF implementations are good, yet not all USB implementations are good. Either way, that motherboard I linked has optical out.

 

[MajorError]

  No surround sound, only two channel.
I do have some cd's and a disc drive but if nothing else I can just import them to my current pc move them to a external hard drive then move them to the new computer.  I rarely get new CD's
I just looked my current PC has 450 gigs and says 229 are free...  I move stuff I rarely use to my external hard drive so storage should not be a problem
will the mother board have the outputs I want?  If I don't use a sound card or a disc drive where will my audio and video outs come from?

 
Did you get the USB option for your DAC?  If not, you'll need something to get optical or coax output from the new PC.
 
Depending on how one goes about building a standard (ATX form-factor) PC, most of the CPUs on-offer also contain a GPU on-die so it's just a matter of having a system board that has the appropriate outputs on it.
 
FWIW, here's a link to the Intel NUC on Newegg.  Further down the page, it also lists reasonable suggestions for the mSATA SSD hard drive and RAM.  If your existing display(s) don't accept HDMI or DisplayPort, you'd need adapters (Newegg carries DP to DVI, DP to VGA and DP to HDMI.)  There's just the matter of the power cord that I mentioned earlier.

 

[awsanderson]

yes have usb option

 

[MooTaters]

If you do go SSD you'll need to remember to turn on AHCI for it in the UEFI.  No offense, but sounds like you don't know a whole lot so it might be easier to either buy a prebuilt system, or if you know anyone who knows a fair amount about PC's and has built their own ask for their help.  That said it's never a bad thing to learn something new, just could get rather confusing unless you have a fair amount of help on hand.  There are plenty of tutorials out there on youtube, I know newegg has some(older) videos on how to go about building a PC.  A lesser known guy on youtube, Will Urbina, created this video which goes over him building a video editing rig(much more powerful than your needs), but has some tips that might help like the site he suggests for finding deals.
 
I also backup the other's thoughts on 4GB of ram being all you'd need for music/web surfing.  On the SSD side you'd be fine unless you want to store lots of media(music, videos, etc.), but even then a 1TB HDD would probably be all you'd need.  I agree on an i3 being all you'll probably need, but don't overlook AMD's offerings, they're a bit more budget conscious of an option, and unless you were editing/rendering media or gaming you'd probably never notice the difference.  Even with gaming people still use their CPU/APU's for budget builds.
 
Edit: Another good thing to learn would just be general maintenance.  Simple stuff mostly, like blowing out any dust every 2-3 months maybe(depending on conditions).  And more so software side things, like defraging your hard drive(not as big of an issue with SSD's), and other things of the sort...though I'm pretty sure now windows takes care of defraging for you through default settings.  Part of what slows things down for people is just is generally not taking care of the PC, keeping it updated(windows updates), and setting up malware scans.

 

[ohhgourami]

Looks like the GBT Brix is still the better option: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164006
 
It has HDMI and Displayport-mini video outs. Runs fanless too! Load it up with a 500gb SSD and 4gb ram and it should come out to about $650 which is actually pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

 

[awsanderson]

  Looks like the GBT Brix is still the better option: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164006
 
It has HDMI and Displayport-mini video outs. Runs fanless too! Load it up with a 500gb SSD and 4gb ram and it should come out to about $650 which is actually pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

 
how upgradeable is the newegg?
I didn't see a disc drive...  but for that price I can just spend the difference on a decent cd player

 

[VXAce]

  No offense, but sounds like you don't know a whole lot so it might be easier to either buy a prebuilt system, or if you know anyone who knows a fair amount about PC's and has built their own ask for their help.
 
Edit: Another good thing to learn would just be general maintenance.  Simple stuff mostly, like blowing out any dust every 2-3 months maybe(depending on conditions).  And more so software side things, like defraging your hard drive(not as big of an issue with SSD's), and other things of the sort...though I'm pretty sure now windows takes care of defraging for you through default settings.  Part of what slows things down for people is just in generally taking care of the PC, keeping it updated(windows updates), and setting up malware scans.

 
Took the words right out of my mouth. Though I'm sketchy on the SSD defrag, never done it before, and I hear it's bad for it. Though I'd recommend building a really simple PC, and make mistakes on the cheap. Then spend actual energy into a build you'd want to last. I did exactly that, and lived with the computer for 3 years, and finally took out as my main rig a couple of months ago. I can't tell you how much frustration I've had, and how much I learned from all of that.
 

   
how upgradeable is the newegg?
I didn't see a disc drive...  but for that price I can just spend the difference on a decent cd player

You probably can't. It looks like it's all filled up, and not built for that. But it does look like a sweet little HTPC,  or if you want something dead silent and don't want to spend brain power on a custom build.

 

[ohhgourami]

   
how upgradeable is the newegg?
I didn't see a disc drive...  but for that price I can just spend the difference on a decent cd player

 
You don't sound like someone who would want to build a PC so that's a good suggestion. So no, the Brix is not upgradeable but it should last you a long while especially if you only use it for web browsing and music. Getting an SSD would make sure it always feels fast. Seems like you haven't used a PC with an SSD; it's life changing!
 
If you want to build something from scratch, I can easily help you list out parts to buy too.
 
You could always get a USB DVD drive since you said you don't use discs much anyway.

 

[awsanderson]

I am going to have a guy I work with build it, mostly I just wanted a list of do's and don'ts and a parts list, things to avoid and things to get.  I realize with my limited knowledge building one is probably a bad idea... I bet it would never work.  But the guy I'm gonna have build it knows a lot about building a fast computer but knowing that wasn't really what I needed and knowing he didn't know specifics about a parts list that would suit my needs I decided to pick your brains...

 

[VXAce]

  I am going to have a guy I work with build it, mostly I just wanted a list of do's and don'ts and a parts list, things to avoid and things to get.  I realize with my limited knowledge building one is probably a bad idea... I bet it would never work.  But the guy I'm gonna have build it knows a lot about building a fast computer but knowing that wasn't really what I needed and knowing he didn't know specifics about a parts list that would suit my needs I decided to pick your brains...

Well, you gotta start somewhere. 
 
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/VXAce/saved/2zdG <-- This is actually a build I planned out a couple of weeks ago, in an attempt to have a "silent" build. Obviously it isn't perfect yet, working on that "silent" part, and that price.

 

[Headzone]

I would have a look at the price of the new G8xx Pentiums if I was going to purchase a dual-core Phenom. They tend to be more efficient; less noise. 

 

[ohhgourami]

  I am going to have a guy I work with build it, mostly I just wanted a list of do's and don'ts and a parts list, things to avoid and things to get.  I realize with my limited knowledge building one is probably a bad idea... I bet it would never work.  But the guy I'm gonna have build it knows a lot about building a fast computer but knowing that wasn't really what I needed and knowing he didn't know specifics about a parts list that would suit my needs I decided to pick your brains...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Yjbq
Plus this case: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/akeufacaform.html and add $20 for the power brick.
 
Fast, compact, and completely silent since there's no moving parts! Easy to upgrade later down the line since you can reuse the fantastic case. Only downside is that it's a bit on the pricey side, but that's only because of the 500gb SSD.

 

[Cougar2465]

 
 
 
Coming together slowly. Tilted the Opals down a bit since this pic. Aim is to eventually have an iMac rather than a Mini + monitor, although ideally I'll probably wait until they do Retina/4K iMacs... might grab a 27" 1440p screen in the meantime though and update to a newer Mini LOL. Also need to sort out cabling, room treatment, lighting and a load of other stuff... least I have the DAC and speakers I want now, although the Opals are ultra efficient or something and I've had to order a couple of 20db in line attenuators as otherwise I'm having to go heavy on the NAD's digital volume to get reasonable listening levels.

 
Nice setup!
Can you please tell me what keyboard is that? (Alloy and white keys) ... looks like an industrial grade keyboard! I like it.