I was in your shoes too like @ghdprentice and @jbuhl except I didn’t give up my digital files collection for streaming. I stream in addition to listening to my collection. Do a search for Melco audio and familiarize yourself with their music players then look on line for a used Melco N1A or later music server. Although not a streamer, it will refine your streaming if and when you decide to go that route. It is SOTA and one of the best out there, much better than my tricked out Mac Mini. They are built to last. You won’t regret it.
Better music player alternative to Mac Air / laptop
I am currently using Apple Macbook Air and/or Ms. Window based laptop as the hardware player, and pairing either “Foobar 2000” or “VLC” with the Mac/laptop for music playing. I prefer Mac Air to laptop because it has no fan. I collect lawful 16/24 bits, 44.1/88.2 khz flac and good recordings from Youtube and store them in a solid state drive as the source.
Although I felt the noise floor from this combination is quite dark and satisfactory, I am open to a possibly “cleaner” music player alternative/device (with display preferrably) than my current Apple Mac/laptop that the audiophiles continuously claim to be “dirty.” The “player” may include both hardware and software because the software I am currently using may not be able to run on the new device. I heard Mac Mini is a good choice so please share your experience if you had it. I do not stream and I do not intend to invest in the streamer in the near future. Thank you.