I ran into two gentlemen yesterday who said newer Apple iPad and laptops connected directly to a DAC is the best option. Apple is lossless now. I am under the impression that computers are noisy and not a good option. Streaming is about lowering the noise floor. I was told I was wrong, the Pple is better. I do not think they were right.
Depends on the kind of "computer"....All streamers are "computers" themselves. They will need to contain most core hardware that you see in a regular computer.
The idea of a dedicated streamer is a better power supply, noise reduction, optimized software (software gimmicks), improved upsampling, etc, which is great and it can sound better than a gaming pc or a regular laptop.
For the guys who are dropping beacoup bucks on a streamer & dac, trying to go a notch above on fidelity....When you have a separate streamer and a DAC, you have nullified the above mentioned benefits you gained by introducing 2 unnecessary i2s conversions and a lousy cable in between (The best cable is no cable). The right solution would be to integrate the streamer and dac in the same box to mitigate these unnecessary conversions and so on.
Further, circuit design has always been a bit of a black art... High freq + High V -->most difficult combo, High freq+low V --> a bit easier....but you still need to keep the signal path as short as physically possible when dealing with these delicate signals (can be done in a unified streamer+dac box). I would also work on integrating the linestage and dac output stage together in the same box. But, i understand, the marketing states that if you lug around 15 different boxes (good for sales) to play a song, it sounds the best.
Good luck.
P.S
They’re even promising a delicate clock in a separate box and they’ll run it with some cable to a dac apparently!! Quite dumb but....well, make it 20 different boxes to play a song...and it will magically/somehow sound the best!