Ready For Digital Source...Computer?

Op, I wish there were companies that sold a purely audiophile pc or lap. There are network players/servers being made but it is so much more convenient to be able to use the device as a computer and a player. The market need is there. In time, it will happen I hope. I use Audirvana to bypass my computers sound card and deliver a bit perfect stream to a stand alone DAC. It does an admirable job but could be better. Right now it costs around 3.5k for a Surface Studio 2 . Other options are the mac products and a stand alone 10TB SSD Drive. When I tested Audirvana vs Roon (that was a few editions back) vs the stream apps by Qobuz and Tidal the best sound was Qobuz--> Audirvana --> DAC in my system. Spotify was the worst.  

phcollie - Thanks for the info and I agree on the need for more PC/audio-related companies. 

I did find the videos by Darko (recommended by tvad) very helpful and am leaning towards the economical Raspberry Pi option with an Allo Digi One hat that supports coaxial out.

dabel - this looks interesting too:

https://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/off-ramp-converter

Then I found this at $899 - https://sonore.us/ultraRendu.html that would hook up via USB. Or supposedly, better yet, this: https://sonore.us/opticalRendu.html for $1395 which is supposed to be dead quit due to the optical connection. There are a bunch of other components that you need to purchase as well to make it all work.

Raspberry Pi is lookin’ good!

If you budget is less thank $5k, I'd also look at the Moon 280D...its ~$3k and has a streaming module and DAC.