Files from a Harddrive to a DAC vs dedicated digital player?

You may also use wifi directly with some streamers and Still get good sound according to this article. 

https://darko.audio/2018/08/ethernet-or-wifi-which-is-better-for-high-end-audio-streaming/

 That is of course special hardware and I am not sure it is better than a purpose built computer but it is easier to buy. You can also look at special computers.

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/

joyofsound

The Bryston 4B3 is on my must demo list. Tell me more about the Simaudio pre-amp that you are using.  Happy Listening!

For the last couple of years I used a Mac Mini with external HD as my digital source.  Recently got the itch to experiment a bit and moved my library to my NAS drive - left everything else the same.  I wasn’t expecting to hear any difference at all, as again, the only change I made was moving the files from a local HD connected via FW to my MacMini to a NAS drive connected via Ethernet. The improvement was IMMEDIATELY obvious.  Needless to say, I was fairly shocked.  A couple of weeks later I installed an Auralic Aries, completely bypassing the MacMini, and was again shocked by the across the board improvement.  I tried both the Lightning and Lumin apps and have a preference for the later - it is a joy to use on an iPad.

Like anything in this hobby, YMMV.