It's just a very basic HP laptop that I kept as an extra. I guess that's one of the things I'm trying to figure out. When you stream Apple music on a pc, there are no settings, so you don't really know if it's sending out lossless or not. Saw a video of John Darko saying to go from an ipad, out via a lightning to female usb A, and then I can go usb A to the usb B of the McIntosh. If that works, it sounds like I could make it work wired.
But does anyone know if it's possible to get lossless where the ipad or pc is not tethered? As I mentioned in my first post, I can't confirm if something like a Bluesound Node will work or not. Was hoping someone may have experience with that.