I haven't tried it recently, but on Mac Clementine was way behind sonically. If you are going to run it via Linux, stay away from PulseAudio and try to use ALSA. If I were you, I'd try HQPlayer and experiment with it's upsampling unless you are running a NOS DAC. Better yet, use the old laptop as a HQPlayer NAA (akin to JPlay two PC set up).
There is a steep curve to get it running, but the HQPlayer upsampling algorithms were the single biggest leap in audio software for me.
There is a steep curve to get it running, but the HQPlayer upsampling algorithms were the single biggest leap in audio software for me.