Scooter,
OK, I'll describe my system, but keep in mind I started down the digital path (not CD) 7 years ago. Attempting to do what I do as a first step would be a recipe for likely frustration, maybe turning away and missing a larger opportunity.
My front end is made of two computers: a powerful Win 10 PC with fans, hard disc drives which makes it a non-audiophile computer. Here I store my music, run Roon core which also accesses Tidal. I control Roon from an Android phone. Roon also delivers music to other devices over the house.
From the Win 10 PC I have Roon stream through ethernet cable to HQPlayer (software) housed inside an audiophile PC sitting on my rack. This PC has no moving parts: solid disc, passive cooling, linear power supply, 3M RFI absorbent inside, etc, etc. It runs on Windows Server 2012 R2 with Audiophile Optimizer in minimal-server mode. And it runs HQPlayer which convolves (applies a digital filter to the music stream it receives) with filters made on Acourate (DSP software) to output 3-way digital out of the USB card and into the multichannel DAC.
There aren't many multichannel DACs in the market and I suggest you stick with two channels first.
My DAC is a Lynx Hilo: it receives 3-way stereo (6 channels) thru USB and outputs analog signals to: 2 active subwoofers (Rythmik kit, DIY box) (from 20 to 70Hz), 2 Hypex UcD400 kits powering midbasses (70 to 350Hz), and each channel in the MC275 to drive midrange and treble. My speakers are B&W 804S, where I removed the woofer to midrange crossover and drive the woofers directly from the UcD amps. The MC275 is connected to midrange+tweeter, where the passive crossover between them is still in place.
After experiencing what is possible with digital crossovers in an active system and room correction I've spent the last couple of years learning about speaker design and plan to replace the 804S with my own 4-way speakers.
I encourage you to read through these articles to understand what is possible:
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/ca-academy/acourate-digital-room-and-loudspeaker-correction-software-...https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/ca-academy/advanced-acourate-digital-xo-time-alignment-driver-lineari...These articles were an inflection point in my journey. I started implementing Acourate-generated filters through JRiver playing on a laptop and onto a 2-channel DAC, just applying room correction. Later added the audiophile PC, then went to the Hilo and implemented 2.2 system: 2 subs + the 804S driven completely by MC275 starting at 80Hz.
Step by step! :-)
Hope this helps!