Ready For Digital Source...Computer?

I’ve streamed airplay (via Mac mini) to a Hegel h590 and found it to be superb. It also works with quobuz, Audirvāna, Roon. The Hegel HD 30 DAC works as a streamer and DAC with volume control and digital preamp. The simplicity is amazing. 
most of my music is legacy cd, streamed from a synology server in my office. 
I didn't see enough of a difference with high bit rate quobuz audio to pay every month. 
there is also a challenge with playlists. Most can't import them. And if you choose to move on to another service, your playlists don't come with you!

as such, I still value Apple Music (iTunes) for the metadata capability. 

Call Andrew Gillis at Small Green Computer.

He told care of this old timer who didn't know squat about setting up streaming.  A great experience and great products.

@high-amp 

You can see two of my systems if you click on my ID. If your budget I'd ~$5K then I recommend a Aurender N100 streamer and a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC. I use a Aurender W20SE streamer and Audio Research CD9se DAC. On my headphone system I use an Aurender N100 streamer and a Ayre QB-9 2020 DAC.

I bailed on this issue years ago by getting a series of good SPDIF converters, then recently a DDC. The USB cable goes into the SPDIF converter and outputs digital (up to 24/192) via coax cable to the DAC.

It’s not perfect, but especially w/the DDC in place, any noise from the big desktop computer is less of a concern.

Great thread! I am learning lots! Getty too many to thank individually, so thanks to you all!