[ponkotsu]

I feel stupid for asking this after reading and re-reading the information in the opening posts, along with some of the hardware-specific threads.

I'm currently using a 2009 Mac Mini (Nvidia 9400M) and a Celeron 2955 Chromebox as my primary Kodi playback devices. The Mac has served me well for the past 8 years, but it's getting a bit old and it seems that I have to stick with Jarvis 16.1 to retain hardware decoding. The Chromebox is humming away on Krypton 17.1 quite happily, for the most part. But that Mini is ready for replacement so that I can finally make the upgrade to Krypton across all my devices.

I have a 1080p-only setup right now. 4k is not in the planner for another year at least. But of course it makes sense to overprovision a bit for the future so that I don't have to buy new hardware when I do finally buy a 4k TV.

Here's some of the primary requirements:
cost <= $300ish (so no "new" Mac Mini that hasn't been updated in forever, thanks Apple)
LibreELEC 8.x Krypton goodness
GigE
10bit HEVC
10bit h264 (anime nerd, this comprises a sizeable chunk of my library; understood SW decode only)
5.1 DD / DTS (not enough room/cash/source media for 7.1 speakers)
quiet. no big honkin l33t gaming pc's. and preferably no Windows.

would be nice:
4k HEVC
5.1 FLAC

don't need / don't want / don't care:
Netflix
Amazon
3D
PVR
Android

Given those factors, I think a WeTek Play or a Kaby Lake i3 NUC would be what I need? There's definitely a big price difference, but I think the big question for me is: does the WeTek has the horsepower to software decode 10bit h264 with multichannel FLAC? I think everything else I need/want can be handled by both, but if I can save $100+, then why not, right? Or if anyone has suggestions on better choices?

Thanks for all the info you've all already provided. It can get a bit dizzying for this old fart to get it all sorted out in his head.