A question about what "streaming" is

Not knowing if you have a Uber expensive system or a more basic setup makes answering this difficult. I was in the same place a few years ago. You can buy an audioquest black thumb drive dac used for probably $50.  A red used for probably a little over $100.  Plug this in a usb on your Mac, get a 3.5 to rca splitter from Amazon to run between the out jack of the Audioquest thumbdrive and your preamp or integrated/ receiver and you are good to go. $60 and you have decent quality streaming. Better DACs get better results but if your system doesn’t allow you to hear the difference why spend the money. I started with. Raspberry pi with a hifiberry dac stacked on top- a little complicated for someone without curiosity- and still use it even though in my main system I have purchased a slightly better standalone DAC. GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY. 

There are many different approaches to streaming. Everyone likes their own brand. Still, it is usually best when you have questions of this nature to seek out the advice of a good urologist.

If you’re new get a free 3 month trial at Amazon. $8/mo after that (for Primers.) Play around on your computer or smart phone. Make some playlists you like.
The problem with Amazon is that they are not available on many streamers besides BluSound.
Qobuz is your best bet (and best sound) but their library is smaller.
All services allow you to download music for when the internet is unavailable. My lp
Downloaded tracks only stop working when your subscription lapses.
You can download your faves and take them with you to BF Egypt.
Don't worry about testimonials about what sounds best, get the hang of it first.

When I stream via my Mytek Brooklyn Bridge streamer/dac/preamp, the sound quality is clearly superior to what I get directly via my Windows laptop. Heck, at least 50% of the time, streaming sounds better than what I get from vinyl...at least when I'm streaming from Qobuz or Primephonic.  And ethernet makes things better still.   Right now, I'm truly enjoying some Qobuz-sourced Tony Bennett. 

You can use your MAC to stream and it should sound very good it might sound as good as the Cary. Remember a streamer is a computer within a manufactures cabinet. I have seen $300 computers in 10k streamers.

Your DAC should be the best you can afford it matters most in streaming along with a good USB cord and yes it matters.

Thanks, that's a big help. I went and checked out Tidal, I see how it works now.

Can I just use my Mac to stream, and get as good of quality as, say, a Cary DMS-550, $3500?

Am I sending the audio through my preamp like with a CD player?

Then I'd think the better DAC in the Cary will make it sound better than my Mac?

New to this stuff.

Thanks.

@river251 - There are streaming services, like Spotify (free w/ads, or primium w/no ads), Tidal, Qobuz and others that basically have hundreds of thousands of complete albums, or individual tracks, that you can play via an internet connection. You can browse and play whatever you want. Their catalogs are very deep.

When you hear folks talk about streamers, it's simply a dedicated mini-computer that runs a dedicated music streaming OS. Streamers support various streaming services (like the ones I mentioned), internet radio stations like Radio Paradise, and will also find and play any music files you have on your network. So, you could rip all of your CDs to some type of storage, or use a ripper/streamer like the BlueSound Vault to store and play-back your ripped CDs, as well as everything else I mentioned.

Good luck. I hope you find something you love.