I’ve been streaming music for almost 20 years. You will need a computer, and a smartphone and/tablet to do it right.
‘First and foremost, it’s the software you use that gives you the best Sq. I’ve used almost a dozen different software versions that run on a computer, which is your server that holds your ripped cds along with controlling your streamed music sources like Tidal/Qobuz. Every dedicated music server you buy is a computer, mostly running Linux with either roon or their own proprietary software.
‘The worst transport to use to a dac is usb. IMO, usb is used more often because most DACs have that capability whereas the more expensive DACs include Ethernet which is far better Sq even if you buy all the usb tweaks/gimmicks.
IMO, start off small. If you have a cd player with a digital input, buy a device like an Apple TV or something similar to front end your cd player. Then get a tablet to run apple music/iTunes and point to the apple tv device as your output. By no means this is a quality setup, but it will give you a feel on how you can navigate the web for music playback and then you can use the Apple TV device for a bedroom or second system later on, Roon/Audirvana and others will use this device as an endpoint.
If you want to really get into streaming, then you need a computer (it doesn’t have to be dedicated if it has enough resources and it’s located in a separate room), pick your software like roon/audirvana, dac with Ethernet or i2s inputs, then setup a wired network to your audio room and use a fiber network to your isp.