Any audiophile use computer (MacBook) as your audio streaming source?

That is what the search function is for.

 I guess I was hoping to learn more about the types of components that make up your fiber chain, like end points, interfaces and such. If that was explained in previous threads then by all means please point to them. Thank you!

OP this will get you started. You need to do the work...@devinplombier

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/24002-optical-network-configurations/page/149/#comment-1291167

So switching to something that might be useful to the OP

IMHO asking a computer (Mac or Windows ) to be a streamer direct to the DAC is asking for sub par performance. If you ever look at all that is going on in the background (My Windows Pc is running 66 background processes at the moment) it makes sense that a device dedicated to the task might outperform it.

On the flip side, any DAC today is pulling info from the USB port as it needs it, so if it is processing that data optimally perhaps it makes no difference. All I can speak to is my experience, which is that the high end DACs I've used in my system (DCS, Mojo, EMM, and others) that had digital inputs, particularly AES,  they sounded better by using that rather than USB. I attribute that to more stable, less jitter, less noisy clocks in the reclocker, but that is just a guess. In any case, it sounds better to me.

So how do you get an AES signal. One way is a DCS or EMM bridge that takes an Ethernet in with an AES out. My current method is a Mutec MC3+ USB that takes USB in from an HQplayer NAA and converts it to AES, reclocking it in the process. It sounds more organic and natural into my Mojo DAC and as I recall that was true with the EMM I had too.  Again, that is my experience.

it is logical but I have no proof of this, that as long as the USB data coming from the NAA is not corrupted, once the Mutec re-clocks it then it shouldn't matter where it came from. Others will disagree but that's about as much effort and $$ as I want to put into it since I'm more a vinyl than digital guy anyway.

I also have the Mutec 10MHz as a reference for the MC3 but the jury is still out on whether or not that is a step up. I think it is but it is one of those deals it may take a while to soak in what all is happening to the sound.

so back to what I said in my initial response.. the only way for YOU to know is to try it in your system. One thing I will say is if you have a large % of your total $$ tied up in a streamer, you could probably get more improvement by spending it elsewhere (better speakers, better DAC, etc) and saving the streamer upgrade for the latter stages of your journey.

Soix, peace

As for the dude saying adding a DDC is just adding another box so can’t possibly help and is just a way for a manufacturer to make more profit, well that’s just stupid and not even worthy of a response. Many, many people here have added a DDC and/or external

Comprehension of the technical nitty gritty has historically never been your strong suit, but, it's ok. What i said was that DDC function is better incorporated inside  the damn dac box. Carry on, string together your 15 boxes with wires and hit the play button. Enjoy the music (which is all that matters)...

I use a $150 Ubiquiti switch that has multiple RJ45 and 2 fibre optic input slots for my office system. This system is now essentially a reference level headphone system. Last time I looked my Ubiquiti switch was about $500 on Amazon. I think a lot of audiophiles started chasing it and the price went up.

I have a different brand $75 Fibre switch in my Livingroom that connect to a great 2-channel system. So, I have 2 Fibre network endpoints just before the DACs. I connect the Fibre and the USB input of my DACs together with the Sonore OpticalRendu. It is a very good sounding streamer though I think there is an improved new version from Sonore.

I posted many times of my listening tests with the opticalRendu, Lumin X1, and the Playback Designs STREAM-IF. I had all 3 in the house at the same time (owned them) and did a lot of comparisons. One clarification, the X1 did not use USB, I went directly into the Fibre input on the Lumin X1 DAC, the ultimate solution.

They all sound different and all were great in their own way. I kept the OpticalRendu because I traded my Lumin X1 for speakers, the Yamaha NS5000. I decided the Schitt Yggi+ OG DAC (at $3k) was incredible, and I did not need to spend $24k on the PBD Dream DAC for which I previously bought the STREAM-IF.

All 3 of these streaming solutions supported Fibre optic cables and I did not need to change anything upstream of the Fibre switch. I do not care what is upstream of my Fibre moat.

I use ROON for all my streaming.