Improvement over iBook as a front end


Hi, For many years now I have been using an old iBook as a front end, dedicated to music stored on an external drive. The DAC is in my pre-amp. Is there now a front end that would give me a big improvement over this set up? The rest of the system is audiophile (Primare pre-amp, Genelec monitors, REL subwoofers).
The key functionalities that I demand from any replacement are the ability to assign a genre to each tune, and to play in shuffle mode within each genre. Therefore, a CD player/transport is not an option. 

Your help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.



garbo

Showing 1 response by jerrybj

I use an old MacBook Pro as well.
Run music through Audirvana.
Halide Bridge USB to SPDIF converter to DAC.

Updated my DAC 18 months ago to a heavily modified Beresford SEG.
Coupled with a number of additions/tweaks, the MacBook is sounding good. 
I'm sure I could do better. Interested in the responses you get.