Why does my old CD player sound so much better than my new streamer?

I am by no means an expert on Computer / Streamer players. But this is what I have experienced - for anyone that cares about a layman's investment point of view.

I had sat on a Mac Mini for years before I made the commitment to send it off to have it modified to eliminate all the noise and erroneous programs that computers tend to automatically run in the background, etc. I had a separate power supply, clock, power and USB cable added. - I do use wifi to connect to the internet.

I took advantage of a Audrivana special and found that everything sounded OK. Upon giving my feed back a few months later to 3 very respected consumer audio industry professionals - they unequivocally said, at separate times - there is no way, that any computer audio/ streamer on the market today is going to be as good as,  let alone better than a 10k+ CDP.

Soon after getting that sobering dose of reality, while listening to the mac mini, curiosity prompted me to switch out the Analysis Plus Silver Oval power chord and attached a Stage 3 Concepts Kraken. The difference was not subtle.  I had a completely brand new unit that performed at an extremely higher level - by far the absolute best that I have ever heard computer audio sound to date. However it still did not sound as good as my Wadia S7i CDP. Maybe 75-80% as good. Will it get there time will tell.

The reference to cooking in one of the previous responses is a little off.
Great cooking is a result of the sum total manipulation of of the science associated with it. So by the example given what would be more accurate is that the adjustments suggested are more akin to using a different pot, pan, stove or oven to execute the process - rather than adding salt, pepper or herbs. - 

Anyway I believe everyone understood point being made.

I have been continually amazed by audiophiles who state that their streaming service doe o match  a good CD player.   Why?  Because I have never heard a streaming service/player that sounds as good a my CD player.  Can anyone here state that there in no doubt that your streamer sounds better than CD?  If so, what speakers and electronics do you have/

@ggc   all my music sounds better than CD , but its an elaborate system ...  as you noticed changing a power cord made a big difference, interconnects will also make a huge difference, usb cables (high quality) and of course a dedicated music player like an Antipodes or Innuos also make a difference a mac mini while good ; won't compete with those dedicated players... why you may ask... because they are noise treated at the board level and components etc.. special power supplies to eliminate noise... 

@ danvignau...   see my post above problem solved.....

To Audiotroy,

I cannot find where to engage DSD transcoding?  There is no manual and on the Lumin website for set up of this product I do not see where to do this.  Can you explain?  Maybe I'll call Lumin.  I am using the stock power cord. I am using Wi-Fi not ethernet because an ethernet cable would have to be about 40 feet long and require holes drilled through walls and a floor.  The retainer recommended TP link range extender that I use, which provides a strong signal.  I read in some posts here about an sbooster power supply so I am looking into that, but still considering reading in the D2 for a T2.

Besides this, there seems to be no clear answer through all the many responses on here.  Some think the difference is in the digital phase, others think its the analogue. But I appreciate all the responses and will keep reading them.