Any audiophile use computer (MacBook) as your audio streaming source?

I went back and read the OP’s original post from 10-2, as well as their one follow-up post from 10-3. I don’t believe the responses have addressed the OP’s actual questions.

It seems the OP already owns an EVERSOLO DMP-A8 combination network streamer/DAC/preamplifier that you can read about here, and also a McIntosh C53 preamp, which also includes an onboard DA2 DAC. The OP is apparently using the DMP-A8 as a streamer only (presumably connected to their network via Ethernet LAN), and then to output a digital signal via coax to the C53, which is performing DAC and preamp duties.

The OP’s questions, as I understand them are:

Original question from 10-2: Should I purchase a MacBook to replace the DMP-A8 streamer. Answer: Probably not. Based on what I have read of the DMP-A8, it should be competent as a streamer and, since it can output a digital signal, you can use it as a streamer only, and bypass the DAC and preamp sections of the DMP-A8 in favor of the presumably superior (in your words) DAC and preamp sections of your McIntosh C53 DA2.

Second question from 10-3 post: Should I change the digital coax cable I am using to feed the C53 to a giga lan or usb cable? Answer: The C53 does not appear to have a LAN input, so no to that option. Regarding coax vs. USB, my experience is that with all but the most optimized DACs, I like the sound of the coax input better than USB. However, every situation is unique and it would be very easy for you to A/B compare your coax cable input into the C53 against using a USB input, since the C53 takes either. Therefore, try both and choose whichever connection sounds best to you.

I can see where using a general purpose computer in bridged mode could make sense. In this case the computer is used as a server, this means something like Roon core only on computer, this connected to a streamer, various companies make these, in my case I use Sonore OpticalRendu, this becomes Roon endpoint. This segregates or isolates dac from noisy and inferior clocks in general purpose computers. Still, I've compared my custom build server/steamer as both Roon core and endpoint (unbridged mode) to the bridged mode with the Sonore, bridged mode easily betters the unbridged setup. Keep in mind, my custom build sever/streamer uses Enterprise level RAM and hard drive, passive cooling, high speed processor, Euphony OS, $6K linear power supply. Bottom line, IME segregating a general purpose computer from dac with a basic streamer only gets you part way there, YMMV.

@yyzsantabarbara Thank you for the additional info, however on a conceptual level I am still confused. I may just be missing something obvious.

How can fiber constitute a "moat" when it is merely a conduit without filtering abilities of its own? If a noisy signal enters a fiber run, isn't it delivered identically at the other end, noise and all?

And if SFP fiber does in fact erect a "moat" protecting a system from noise, why wouldn't coaxial and toslink do the same?

Fiber won't pick up noise along the way like copper might, but what about the noise that entered the signal upstream of the first endpoint?.

Fiber audio networking is new to me, so these may be stupid questions. If so I do apologize.

@devinplombier Fibre optical cables are made of glass and can be very long; cheap too.Fibre is used to transmit data across large distances reliably, 

Glass cannot carry analog noise that is in the network, a network is likely ethernet cable based for the most part, like my home network. I use fibre cable as the last bit before the DAC.

I think jitter is another matter to be concerned with, but most competent DACs (low cost) can handle jitter these days. I do not know how that relates to streaming. I do not care since the DACs can deal with it.

Toslink is likely also made of glass, but it is a different type of cable and cannot travel long distances. Toslink also has some issue related to digital transmission that I do not know enough to explain.

I do use Toslink in my office system for 1 DAC input and SPDIF for another DAC input. The Toslink is for my noisy computer (YouTube and sports) and the SPDIF is for CD/SACD's. The SPDIF sounds great, as good as the streaming. The Toslink is not that great, nor is the source.

I am just some person spewing an opinion here however, there are some heavy-duty DAC designers that are stating the same thing. PlayBack Designs Andreas Koch for one.

BTW - Lumin were the first DAC company to support fibre natively, they actually did this after reading posts on an online forum years ago about the advantages of fibre.