Novice Question: Dedicated Streamers

My practical experience adding to the above:

8 years ago I ripped all my CDs and started streaming them from iTunes. Shortly after I discovered Spotify and stopped streaming my own CDs and did Spotify instead as Spotify also provided access to all the music that I did not own. After some time I tested Tidal and found out that the quality was better and moved to Tidal, where I am now.

Then I wanted to stream to my HiFi and not just from my computer. I wanted to use my phone as remote controller. Hence, I looked for a streamer that I could connect to my amplifier. Initially I decided for a cheap solution from german Raumfeld and a cheap DAC from Musical Fidelity - to try things out. That worked perfect.

I learned about Roon and realized that provides a lot of information about the bands and albums that I wanted. Hence, I upgraded my streamer to a Roon Ready streamer, where I have Roon and Tidal (Innuos Zen mini).

Next was upgrading my DAC, where I was in doubt whether to select an MQA enabled or not. I finally decided for a non-MQA called RME ADI-2 DAC.

As part of the process I have upgraded my Ethernet and USB cable.

Good luck with your journey ahead.

I find it useful to use the computer terminology:

Storage: where the music files are stored

Music server: software, running on a pc, that catalogues music available in networked or local storage and offers it up to a control point with various sorting options. 

Control point: software, on a phone, iPad, or even a renderer, that sees a music server, and allows you to choose what to play, and which renderer to send it to. 

Renderer: receives a music file from a music server or streaming service and delivers it to a DAC

streamers are usually a combination of renderer and control point, although most allow you to use your phone/iPad as a control point. 

There are many proprietary standards (Like BlueOs) but most servers/control points/ renderers will inter-operate on a communication standard called DLNA/UPnP.  

I’m a bit of an open-source junkie, so I run minimserver music server software on network-attached storage. I run BubbleUPnP on an android tablet as a control point, and I have cambridge, iFI, KEF LS50W and Chromecast renderers/streamers to which I can send output.  Bubble sees my tidal and Qobuz accounts as well as my music server so it can see all my music sources and renderer endpoints. You may have heard of Roon, which is a very popular combination music server and control point software that does all the same stuff, but requires that your streamer be a Roon endpoint. Slightly less common than UPnP compliance. 

It is a a lot of terminology, but one walk through of an existing setup and you will totally get it. 

@ahofer laid it out really well.  I like to think of these in a few buckets:

-  DAC with streamer functionality, has digital+network in, digital+analog out  (Auralic, MSB, NAD, others)
-  Streamer with DAC functionality, has network in, digital+analog out (Lumin, others)
-  Streamers, has network in and digital out, needs external DAC (Lumin, Auralic, Sonore, others)
-  Network Music Server and Streamer, has digital out (Aurender, others)
- Network Music Server, Streamer, and DAC (Aurender, others)

There are also computer based network severs which can have DACS.  These usually have specialized hardware, like linear power supplies, around computer parts (Innuos, Roon).

Also there is just software solutions that can be installed on your computer at home which can act as a server. (Roon, others)

The theory behind this is is that the more specialized the component the better the sound.  Each will have a different interface and mobile app to go with it.  Some share compatible with Roon, mostly as an endpoint.

This isn’t all inclusive of all solutions, but hope it helps.

If you're streaming music through your MAC or computer, you don't really need a streamer. 

If you have a dedicated 2 channel system that doesn't have a computer the streamer provides the functionality you get from the computer - internet connectivity to download/stream files, an interface to select music (often through your phone or tablet), and the firmware/hardware to decode the digital signal and send it to your preamp/amp.  It's basically another source, like a CD player, turntable, etc.

You may find that a dedicated streaming device provides better sound quality than your computer.

I gave up on hard media like vinyl and CD’s years ago and was an early adopter for computer audio. I only stream music through a dedicated streamer-dac box using a music subscription service. BTW, I uploaded my entire CD collection into a solid state drive that I plug into the streamer and access that music if I’m in the mood. So for me the convenience and very easy access to a broad music library is key for me. BTW, the sound quality is terrific IMO, with my gear. However, if you like CD and/or vinyl and the "work" it entails, that’s fine too.