Mac vs streamer.

Not even close even with a "cheap" streamer.
Listen to music from a computer source at your own peril.

+1. My suggestion if you want to try this out for yourself: Buy a used streamer. If you hear no difference, sell it for about what you paid for it. I've had good results from a fairly inexpensive Pro-ject Stream Box.

  Streamers are specialized computers, optimized to improve Sonics compared to a multi purpose computer.  The answer to your question partially depends on the streamer…I’ve auditioned at least one low end streamer that was inferior to my 12 year old Mac that I had previously used as a streamer.
  Many audiophiles are perfectly happy with  computer sound, and a program such as Audirvana can really help as it attempts to disable everything in a computer that adds noise.  Personally, I tend to agree with @fuzztone.  With the exception noted, even a relatively inexpensive streamer such as Bluesound will sound smoother and more tactile, even on a mid Fi system.  Still, I encourage everyone new to streaming to start with a PC, because everyone has one, so the entry cost isn’t a barrier.  You can always move one later

@mahler123
All true. I "started" with general use computer for many years I went from sound card out to card optcal into S.M.S.L to USB to m2tech coax to Multibit. All big improvements.
Then I graduated.
All 5 streamers <$1K sound much better. It could be just a better than Schiit DAC but I’m not getting a PC anywhere near it.

Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate your sharing your experiences around this. Here’s another question that’s come up for me: I need to be able to use a remote of some sort with any streamer. I have my iPhone set up to control my computer but I have a small one and the screen is small and it would not be good for trying to control a streamer. Would I need to buy an iPad to have a big enough screen to use as a remote for someone with not particularly good eyesight? Do any of the streamers have really big screens?