I second the USB DAC route. I just bought a Wavelength Brick (Silver). It replaced a Wadia 861 and I couldn't be happier -- either from a sonic or ease of playback selection perspective.
Before buying a MacBook to use as a music server(and from which I'm typing this reply), I briefly used a 7 year old Dell PII (300mhz) desktop with the same success as the Mac. Old, nearly obsolete PC's are quite servicable as HD based USB music servers. So it's wise to put your bucks into audio hardware rather than PC hardware.
Before buying a MacBook to use as a music server(and from which I'm typing this reply), I briefly used a 7 year old Dell PII (300mhz) desktop with the same success as the Mac. Old, nearly obsolete PC's are quite servicable as HD based USB music servers. So it's wise to put your bucks into audio hardware rather than PC hardware.