Help Me With Everything Needed: Computer Audio

I understand wanting a NOS DAC, but if you are really going with computer audio, you might want to consider on that does 24/96. I think the Havana only does 16 bit. 24/96 downloads are becoming more common and are often much better than 16/44.

I actually go against much of the thinking on the PC, using a dedicated Netbook with a 250GB disk and Windows 7 Starter and no anti-virus software. That means there are not many processes running. I use J River and the CPU usage is seldom more than 5%. Then, you can use a USB to SPDIF converter that controls the timing (async USB) like the M2Tech Hiface or Evo, Halide Bridge, Empirial Off-ramp between the netbook and the DAC. When using USB, the async mode is critial to reduce jitter.

If you just want to get your feet wet to start, consider the HRT Streamer II for $150. It is a USB dac that uses asynch USB. Probably not your final solution, but a good way to get started and you can probably resell it pretty easily. It is remarkably good for its price.

On a PC, J River and foobar are probably the most common players. foobar is free but it is a realtively simply user interface. J River is not free, but it is very flexible and support async USB very well. I would stay away from iTunes on the PC.

I set mine up about a year ago after much research and question asking. Here's what I ended up with:
1. Mac mini (new) with an ipod touch as remote control. I have a usb keyboard attached to the mini and a wireless mouse. Once a month or so I hook up a monitor to see if anything requires updating other than that the mini is pretty unobtrusive (check my system).
2. PS Audio DLIII (new) actually bought it here but it had never been used.
3. Monarchy Audio DIP, this was a later add on and brought the sound quality up dramatically.
I use a cheap mini toslink cable to the DIP with a ZU digital cable (forgot model) to DLIII.
Currently using itunes with music ripped as AIFF files to an external hard drive. I'm just too lazy to look into another software program to manage the music as it sounds pretty darn good right now.
With more than 5,000 songs on the hard drive, my favorite way to listen is call up all songs and shuffle. I probably do listen more to the Mac than my cdp, but if I want to listen critically I use the cdp. The Mac is just so freakin easy to use.
Good luck however you go and keep us posted on your progress.

Since I plan to rip and store later rather than now and want to stream from my favorite websites, I'm going with a Toshiba with I5 processor, HRT Streamer II+ and Wireworld Starlight usb.

There's a great article over at 6moons.com that got me to thinking that maybe I'll just hold off on going the computer route for now. It's not that it's not the next step up the evolutionary ladder but the extra costs and efforts are making it a non-starter for me at the moment. The author seems to have gone the extra mile and it looks like its right up your alley. Here's the link:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/oddsnends/1.html

Good luck.

Thank you Nonoise, nice read. I picked up at least one or two good tips.