There are dedicated music servers that are better than off the shelf computers for audio. One would need to have a pretty hot DAC and a well tuned system to hear it. I'd stay put unless you've got money burning a hole in your pocket.
Music Server VS Laptop
I'm asking this question because I have no idea. Is there a benefit to buying a music server over just using a laptop? Today is my second day of streaming from a Western Digital 2 TB network drive with my laptop using Foobar 2000. Laptop is connected to my Audiolab 8200CDQ with a USB type A - type B cable. I'm able to play 24bit/96khz and I think it sounds great, but I have no idea if I'm somehow comprimising my listening experience with this set up. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.