Once again Pettyofficer your opinions show that you just don't completely grasp the basic concepts here. Let me clarify:
(1) The computers used in recording studios are not magical in any way - they are the very computers that can be purchased from Apple, Dell etc. Yes they have way more processing power than the typical computer used in a home stereo because they are running much more complicated software. They might employ a powerful Mac tower whereas I choose to run a Mac Mini. But there is nothing stopping me from buying a big tower for my home stereo. The difference in sound quality would likely be negligible, the massive tower would look odd in my room and I'd just be wasting all that processing power. A powermac is no more "designed for audio" than is a mac mini.
(2) Yes the sound files have to pass through the computer but in a properly implemented system it only passes raw digital files from an external hard drive to the DAC. You don't need more than an optimized Mac Mini or comparable to accomplish this small task. It's all in the implementation, and this would in large part describe the varied results amongst different users. Patience and research are required to do this right - as well as a DAC capable of taking the processing out of the computer's hands and rejecting jitter.
(3) Computer audio is not really a "new format" in the strictest sense of the word. In a properly implemented system the raw files being played are no different than those on your shiny silver discs. The exception of course being high res downloads which are theoretically capable of higher fidelity than redbook spec. However, with proper implementation jitter can be reduced vs. optical systems and error correction is a non-factor by isolating the reading of the discs from the recreation of the stored sound files.
(1) The computers used in recording studios are not magical in any way - they are the very computers that can be purchased from Apple, Dell etc. Yes they have way more processing power than the typical computer used in a home stereo because they are running much more complicated software. They might employ a powerful Mac tower whereas I choose to run a Mac Mini. But there is nothing stopping me from buying a big tower for my home stereo. The difference in sound quality would likely be negligible, the massive tower would look odd in my room and I'd just be wasting all that processing power. A powermac is no more "designed for audio" than is a mac mini.
(2) Yes the sound files have to pass through the computer but in a properly implemented system it only passes raw digital files from an external hard drive to the DAC. You don't need more than an optimized Mac Mini or comparable to accomplish this small task. It's all in the implementation, and this would in large part describe the varied results amongst different users. Patience and research are required to do this right - as well as a DAC capable of taking the processing out of the computer's hands and rejecting jitter.
(3) Computer audio is not really a "new format" in the strictest sense of the word. In a properly implemented system the raw files being played are no different than those on your shiny silver discs. The exception of course being high res downloads which are theoretically capable of higher fidelity than redbook spec. However, with proper implementation jitter can be reduced vs. optical systems and error correction is a non-factor by isolating the reading of the discs from the recreation of the stored sound files.