Are you using iTunes? When I ran a macbook, I thought some of the software alternatives made quite a noticeable difference, for not much money.
I now run a dedicated setup from smallgreencomputer (sonictransporter + ultrarendu with roon/tidal). This sounds good, and the functionality is nice, but setup is more of an investment. I'm hapless about computers, but Andrew at SGC has been marvelous -- really patient.
As to the dedicated computer vs. your last laptop from work question: years ago at RMAF, I was in a high end room -- SALK, Empirical Audio, etc. and my friend Chris Hoff's BPT cabling. Some folks calling themselves Mac2Music brought in a "stripped" MacMini, which supposedly had everything not needed to run audio removed. Everybody thought it made a conspicuous improvement. I think M2M is out of business, but they convinced me about purpose built computers. So +1 to audiotroy and guy-incognito: likely to make a more noticeable difference than audiophile fuses :)
I now run a dedicated setup from smallgreencomputer (sonictransporter + ultrarendu with roon/tidal). This sounds good, and the functionality is nice, but setup is more of an investment. I'm hapless about computers, but Andrew at SGC has been marvelous -- really patient.
As to the dedicated computer vs. your last laptop from work question: years ago at RMAF, I was in a high end room -- SALK, Empirical Audio, etc. and my friend Chris Hoff's BPT cabling. Some folks calling themselves Mac2Music brought in a "stripped" MacMini, which supposedly had everything not needed to run audio removed. Everybody thought it made a conspicuous improvement. I think M2M is out of business, but they convinced me about purpose built computers. So +1 to audiotroy and guy-incognito: likely to make a more noticeable difference than audiophile fuses :)