HP or Dell for computer listening ?

I currently have three Dells all of which work fine after I did one important thing. I guess this would be true with all sound cards by the way with other brands. Go to the realtek website and download their free high definition driver file. Some 240mb last time I did it. Load that on your PC and it makes a TON of difference. What comes factory loaded on your PC is real junk by comparison. Also if using a laptop make sure the speaker size setting is set to match what you have. In my case large and it also made a difference. Make sure you test to see you have your left right channels correct also as they can be easy to mix up. Headphone won't matter of course but you will hook speakers up sooner or later too.

Apple Mini with Channel d's Pure Music.

Well that’s what Jplay said 8 years ago, not Darko. It can shut down some processes, just like Audiophile Optimizer does, and does have some positive effects, but does not eliminate jitter. Its effects are related to the OS, not the hardware, where most of the problems originate. Software can not make up for low quality or poorly designed cables, drives, USB circuits etc that induce jitter. That’s not how it works. I’ve built plenty of servers and own Jplay and other software. A system capable of high resolution is needed to hear any differences anyway, so listening to Youtube on a cheap desktop computer makes it a moot point.

From https://darko.audio/2011/06/jplay-a-digital-audiophile-player-for-windows/

Hibernation Mode: cancel OS ‘noise’ by eliminating dozens of jitter-inducing processes and hundreds of threads.

@gareneau  but obviously he's not playing in that league, it's Youtube, and no that software does nothing to get rid of a computer's electrical noise anyway

Either one will work fine and sound about the same.

Using an off the shelf PC for music usually isn’t recommended because of the large amount of noise, electrical and otherwise, that can affect sound quality.

True dat, but there are software such as JPlayFemto specifically designed to help with this...

Thank you all. I will most likely get Dell and hope that I'll get lucky with it for the next three years. I wouldn't count on more.

Regarding reliability alone, in the last decade as an IT exec I have sourced and supported probably around 5k laptops, all either Dell or HP.

I give Dell the edge for reliability and serviceability, especially right out of the box. An unnatural number of HP machines arrived DOA.

In the sub-$1k category it's more a horse-apiece. Just stay away from refurbs and get the service plan.

Either of those computer brands would work, shouldn't be any difference in this application.

I mostly listen to youtube, sound quality is never great there and can at times be just terrible. I have never used outboard dac/headphone with computers before, but now that I got much better headphones, I would like to improve it further, that's why I bought the Burson. Don't have it yet. I am thinking desktop computer.
Everything will be plugged in Furman power strip/conditioner and I will be using Wywires Silver USB cable.

There will be no difference most likely. Using an off the shelf PC for music usually isn’t recommended because of the large amount of noise, electrical and otherwise, that can effect sound quality. But if you’re determined to buy a sub-$1000 PC, whatever one takes your fancy, whether it’s color or features or something else.

It's also quite possible that the Burson will be insensitive to or more likely lack the resolution to be able to playback the PC noise anyway.