Twilightround: A couple of years ago I went through the same mental gymnastics that you are experiencing. In the end, after hours of reading (here and elsewhere) I bought an iMac, imported all the CDs into iTunes using an AIFF format, backed up into a Cavalry mirrored external hard drive and did the following:
iMac >>Optical Digital Cable (from headset output) to a simple Pop Pulse signal converter >>"out" of the Pop Pulse via coax cable to my Krell processor. Works great!! If you do not have a processor then, without question, the DAC would be the way to go. Use the DAC to replace the Pop Pulse and go directly to your pre-amp or amplifier.
There are several great solutions offered above by other members using DACs.
It's easy, simple and effective. I love my iTunes set-up.
iMac >>Optical Digital Cable (from headset output) to a simple Pop Pulse signal converter >>"out" of the Pop Pulse via coax cable to my Krell processor. Works great!! If you do not have a processor then, without question, the DAC would be the way to go. Use the DAC to replace the Pop Pulse and go directly to your pre-amp or amplifier.
There are several great solutions offered above by other members using DACs.
It's easy, simple and effective. I love my iTunes set-up.