What is the function/pupose of music plyr/streamer


Sorry guys another neophyte here with a simple question.
I am going to set up a Computer sourced link into my audio system (sooner or later, once I figure this out).
I "think" I have the basics of the chain down; Computer, Bridge/Converter, DAC, Amp. However I don't understand what advantage a music player/streamer would afford me.(I will be using a MAC and using mostly Apple Lossless files). So this invites 3 questions for me.
1. Why do I or would I need a Music player or Music Streamer? (they are the same, right?)
2. When used, where should it go in the chain?
3. While these devices often list support for many different kinds of audio files, almost none actually say they support Apple lossless, is this because they don't or they just don't want to spell it out?
Thanks for your patience with some of us new/old (double jeopardy) guys.
But any info would be much appreciated.
246810
Steve, in what way are ALAC and Airplay 'flawed'? As near as I can tell, you can reconstruct a bit-accurate copy of the original file using ALAC. or FLAC, for that matter.

Correct me if I'm wrong. My airport express has NO decoding codex resident. My computer streams a bitstream which will look similar if ALAC or MP3-160.
The bitstream will be passed along to a DAC thru optical or as analogue thru RCA......SO that means the AE has a DAC? I know clocking is poor and jitter an issue.

I like the Keep It Simple, but would change to a Firewire DAC in preference to USB.
Steve,
Thanks for responding.
So, I'm going to guess you use FLAC.
Can you recommend a s/w app that allows my mac to play well with FLAC?
Only problem is I promised my girlfriend I would load her Ipod if I could rip her CD's. Does that mean I'll have to rip 2 different times?
I like the simple, I didn't know I could exclude the preamp with any form of pure amp, I'll have to dig into that.
Again thanks for taking the time to share your expertise.
246, according to logitech the squeezebox touch does play apple lossless as well as flac (you are correct that they are different codecs). i've been using my touch for a week or so now and i've become a fan--it's quite addictive once you get past the setup hassles.
"Steve, in what way are ALAC and Airplay 'flawed'?"

1) It is not just using networked data transfer, it uses the audio stack so it is mucking with the data with mixers and volume control etc..
2) compresses the data to ALAC

Firewire is no panacea. USB interfaces done right beat Firewire.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
"So, I'm going to guess you use FLAC.
Can you recommend a s/w app that allows my mac to play well with FLAC?"

You would be wrong. ALL lossy compressed formats compromise sound quality IME. I recently did this comparison at RMAF at my exhibit room. Had a great track, Steven Stills "Treetop Flyer" in FLAC and was playing it a lot and then one of my room partners said I should convert it to .wav and try again. I used XLD on my Mac to convert it back to .wav and it was considerably improved. Sounded like listening through a tunnel with the FLAC version. It's the real-time behavior of these CODECs that mucks-up the sound quality.

I put only .wav files on my iPod and my wifes ripped with either dbpoweramp on a PC or XLD on a Mac. Big difference.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio