Network Transport vs. CD Transport

The advantage of a dedicated streamer is that they are specifically optimized for playing music. The disadvantage is that most of them (besides companies like allo) are 10 times overpriced. watch the ocd hifi video on youtube. it's like 4.5k for 500 in parts and a fancy box.

Interesting.  Absolutely the worst sound I ever heard at a show was from a Mac Mini to an Oppo DAC. It was ear piercingly sharp. I always thought it was the DAC but perhaps I should reconsider.

Anyway, also try with the Mini unpowered, see if that makes any difference. Stereophile (ages ago) reported with some laptops creating a ground loop and power supply contamination, so that's always something to think about.

I've got a Qutest. Use to feed it with a mac mini as well. My suggestions for you would be buy a Sonore Ultrarendu. It's much better at feeding the qutest than the mac. If you want to get better than that, buy a Uptone Audio Etherregen, switch to windows, use Audiophile Optimizer and Fidelizer and use Roon as a shell. Or go Linux and use Rock(Roon). The idea is to 1. Optimize your Endpoint/Server(Ultrarendu). 2. Optimize your core machine for playback(Computer) and 3. Optimize your network(EtherRegen). This has changed my Qutest into a totally diffrent DAC. It was a bigger jump doing these things, than going to a newer generation DAC(ie. 2qute to Qutest). You really should put the Qutest on a Linear Power Supply as well. I have a Teddy Pardo feeding mine. 

I am watching this thread with interest as I am considering getting a streamer into my old school high end system;  now with CV shutdown, I have time to do the research into what is currently available.

Agree with sentiment above saying the good sounding stuff is very high priced (and not worth it, given the pace of change in the streaming environment) -- or -- you need to be quite a technical geek to get the various, numerous piece parts, both in hard- and software, to work well to make really good sounding streamed music.

Thank you all for the responses. Really appreciated. Here’s some more detail on my set up...my apologies in advance for a long rant...
File formats-
AIFF CD rip using iTunes;
Qobuz hi-res, redbook. Roon corr on Mac Mini, wireless. I do not have the modem near my music room. Mac to Wyred4Sound Recovery USB reclocker using Kimber BBus USB cable, then Recovery into the Chord Qutest DAC using DH Labs Mirage 1m USB cable. The Recovery made a very nice improvement in sound by the way. What I don’t like - soundstage is too cluttered and hangs in a narrow space between the speakers. Depth is limited as well. Dynamics and details suffer.  There is glare in the midrange. Vocals are set back, and are recessed. Clarity on vocals suffers, and it seems like there is cloth over the mic. Everything is pretty much a blurb. All components except amp, mac and the Recovery are run off Shunyata Hydra. Amp is plugged directly into wall. All power cords on components are Shunyata Taipan Helix Alpha. Interconnects are AZ Matrix Ref II, speaker cables Purist Aqueous 25th Anniversary. When listening to the same recording on CD, running the CD player as transport into the Qutest DAC, all problems are resolved. There is increased resolution, more clarity in the mids, the glare in the midrange is gone, bass is tighter and more textured. Listening to Audioslave Wide Awake cd rip, the kick drum sounds like a large cardboard box with the Mac, everything sounds compressed. With the cd transport driving the Qutest on the same CD the instruments are better separated, the kick drum sounds realistic AND I can hear the skin on the drums. The vocals are now in front of the band with more subtle details, soundstage is wider and deeper. On classical, the orchestra sounds bigger and deeper, with clearer defined sections and individual instruments are more there as opposed to being cycled thru a sonic “food processor” when played thru the Mac. Listening to my Rega P2 with Goldring E3 cartridge sounds better on some LPs, the sonic signature is in line with the improvements brought in by cd transport. 
I think there are a number of inherent problems with the Mini as a streamer based on my recent findings. One is the internal Power supply. The other is the fact that it isn’t optimized for streaming music in the context of a high end system, as well as limited ability of Roon, or any other bit perfect soft to defeat what the Mini/Apple does with a usb output. I don’t have confidence in dropping more dough on the Mini set up as the difference I heard between it and cd transport is significant enough to make me doubt the gap is bridgeable. Hence my search for a wireless streamer/transport only. I may be wrong but I don’t think I’m too far off. You guys let me know...set me straight...