How to introduce computer audio to my system?

First, what is your budget, what is your appetite for DIY systems integration, and what quality level do you want to achieve? In my estimation, you can get "state of the art" DIY for around 5K, and 10K prepackaged. You can get "very good" for around 1K DIY and 2K prepackaged.

You can get phenomenal out of the box solutions which will give you AES/EBU outputs, ranging from the Bryston BDP-2 (2K) to something like the Weiss MAN301 (10K).

You can get similar sound quality for less money if you go DIY, but far more hassle piecing together your own system (either MAC or PC based).

I personally own a CAPS 2.0, run River Remote on an IPad and use an Offramp 5 converter. Probably sonically equivalent to the Weiss MAN301 for half the cost, but not for the faint of heart (I am technically savvy - would not recommend this to someone that is not)

I think Audirvana Plus beta (v11) with Mountain Lion with a USB device that supports Integer and Direct mode is pretty amazing. I did disable some of the background processes (IR, Spotlight, Quit Finder, Spaces, Dashboard). A+ also has a system optimiser.

How to introduce computer audio to my system?

"Hi system, this is our new friend computer audio." seems appropriate.:)

Simple test. If doggiehowser's post reads like Chinese to you (and you have no desire to learn Chinese), get a turnkey dedicated music server. If not, buy a Mac or PC.

The Weiss MAN301 in the server-only version has a built in CD transport and looks like something that could connect right to the AES/EBU DAC inputs of my EMM player. (Not quite ready to spend $9000, but maybe a used one will show up and I'll wait to save up...).

The Bryston BDP2 has no transport so I would first have to copy my CDs to an external drive I guess and then copy the file to the Bryston (just by USB I suppose).

I of course would be looking for the equivalent sound quality that I get from playing CDs directly on my EMM XDS1.