It's time to do it! Please, your help....

Hello Howie G in NYC!  If you haven't bought the Bluesound Vault yet, there are certainly cheaper ways to go. I have been using PCs (desktops & laptops) for years for recording and playing sound recordings. I have used many DACs and never had a problem with odd noises or bad sound. The software you use to play the music is important. I use WavePad and Media Monkey. Both have free versions. Either is much better than Microsoft's sound players. Keep the software's player at full volume and use a DAC with a volume control. The USB cable is CRITICAL and there are HUGE differences between them. Contact me for more on my discovery of this sad fact. My best results are with Wireworld's best and Furutech's best. Some well advertised products make the music shriek! Unbelievable! The old style USB cables that worked fine on our printers will NOT do audio. Get a great cable first. It's much cheaper. Happy Listening! 

I would certainly go with @boomerbillone post and say that USB cables have shot up in quality lately. My recommendation  would be the CAD 11 cable. It is very expensive but has lifted my playback quality to levels I have not heard from streaming before. Yes the old style USB printer wires just will not do anymore.

Thank you all for the help. There seems to be 2 camps out there. One saying the PC route is dreadful and get a server and the others who say a computer with a good DAC is fine. Since I have all the pieces for the PC ( Mac) route I'm going to give that a try first. If the sound is comparable to that of my SACD player then that will hold me for now.

Thank you ALL for your helpful insights!

All the best in '22

Howie G

Been using an off the shelf Dell (which I rip CD’s to as well as stream) to an Arcam DAC for years and and while it may not be the ultimate in sound reproduction, it is certainly not "dreadful". I do not hear the computer noise that many complain about.