Good question. BTW, I love hearing from women in our hobby — far too rare IMHO. And a Canadian, even better (I’m a hockey player). Anyway, I think I may have a solution for both your questions, and one you didn’t even ask. Agree with others to get the better DAC, but with your budget I’d suggest stepping up to a Denafrips Pontus ll, but if that’s out of your budget the Musician Pegasus would be a good substitute (not sure how prices translate from US$ to CAD these days). I have the Pegasus and like it a lot. You can read good reviews of these DACs and the Gustard X26 at soundnews.net. They’re all great, so just go by which gets closest to the sound qualities you’re looking for and is within budget.
Now, for the bonus, your very noisy computer is much more of a problem than reclocking. But, for around $140USD you can get an iFi Purifier 3 that will importantly help reduce the noise from your computer but will also work as a reclocker. So you can have your cake and eat it too! Hope this helps, and best of luck!