Alternatives Software for iTunes on Mac

joscow The dropouts may be related to your WiFi. If you are on 2.4 GHz band try to change to a different channel or if you have a dual band router, try 5 GHz.

The freezes and hangups are a different matter. Perhaps you need to reinstall iTunes, or perhaps your iTunes library is corrupted. What version of iTunes are you using and what Mac OS and what are your computer specs. 

I am currently using a 2014 Mac Mini as a music server running Mojave Version 10.14.4 and iTunes Version 12.9.4.94 and have had no problems. For the last 9 years I have had several different Macs running different Mac OS versions and iTunes versions and never had a dropout, hangup or freeze. 

I love Audirvana - and it DOES sound better than iTunes.  But you must own all of the music in your library it it will not play in Audirvana.  This is a problem for me because I pay for Apple Music $15/mo and just add all kinds of whatever I want to my library, but then I can't remember if I "bought it" or not and my library becomes extremely frustrating to navigate, which is a big turn off to me.  So, if I'm in the mood to listen to older music that I know I own, its Audirvana and a joint.  If I'm working and streaming and just background music, its ITunes.  If I whip out the bong then you know I just warmed up my tube pre and am about to spin some vinyl!  

Audirvana has sounded superior to iTunes for years, especially when it started reading the music instead of having iTunes do it. ITunes for the car and maybe during a flight is ok. Try doing anything hires/dsd/mqa thru iTunes, you can’t. 
‘I got rid of audirvana a couple years ago and went with Roon, far superior in the user interface and how it adds tidal title to your library. The sq of Roon was better than audirvana when I switched but I have heard rumors that the new release of audirvana might sound better than Roon. 
Also, if you want quality playback, don’t use an airport express, too many restrictions.

I use JRiver Media Center.  Great playback quality via USB to a DAC, links to other DLNA based services, plays just about any format you can think of.  Relatively inexpensive licence.  JRemote can be used to drive it all from iPad or iPhone.  My Mac mini uses a wired connection which is rock solid.

Forgot to mention, Audirvana Plus works very well with Tidal. Tidal is actually integrated into the Audirvana control screen. No plans to change here, very happy with what I have.