Absolutely yes. If I'm understanding you correctly, you'll use this laptop for the tasks you mentioned and connected to your DAC for everyday use, and use an "audiophile computer" (sounds funny, doesn't it?) connected to your DAC for serious listening.
It looks like a sound way of making sure everything other than playback stays away from your audiophile server. The only music coming out from the laptop, it seems, would be streaming radio. Don't know what software you'll use for that. I can't help there as I use a Squeezebox Touch for that purpose. But it might be more practical to just have that software in your audiophile server and avoid the connecting/disconnecting piece. Once you have it running in the laptop, let's see how resource intensive this is, and if it can be easily turned off completely. Still, having another computer for ripping, downloading, etc is a good idea in my book.
BTW, did I pointed you already to the Guide to Ripping CDs? There are surely other good ways of ripping, but this has the benefit of a well written guide to walk you through.
Nice to see you making progress!!
It looks like a sound way of making sure everything other than playback stays away from your audiophile server. The only music coming out from the laptop, it seems, would be streaming radio. Don't know what software you'll use for that. I can't help there as I use a Squeezebox Touch for that purpose. But it might be more practical to just have that software in your audiophile server and avoid the connecting/disconnecting piece. Once you have it running in the laptop, let's see how resource intensive this is, and if it can be easily turned off completely. Still, having another computer for ripping, downloading, etc is a good idea in my book.
BTW, did I pointed you already to the Guide to Ripping CDs? There are surely other good ways of ripping, but this has the benefit of a well written guide to walk you through.
Nice to see you making progress!!