As others will point out, your assumption that a laptop is not a high end piece of gear is way off. I also used to think like that but after I began using them
I was pleasantly surprised. The trick is getting the settings right and having a good DAC. If USB is to be the interface, make it asynchronous.
If you listen to CD players, keep in mind that they are just computers with limited Operating systems and better D/A conversion than the average PC.
You may be happiest with the Audio products from Marantz, Cambridge Audio, Linn, NAD, etc that are meant to facilitate playing high resolution files from a hard drive.
I was pleasantly surprised. The trick is getting the settings right and having a good DAC. If USB is to be the interface, make it asynchronous.
If you listen to CD players, keep in mind that they are just computers with limited Operating systems and better D/A conversion than the average PC.
You may be happiest with the Audio products from Marantz, Cambridge Audio, Linn, NAD, etc that are meant to facilitate playing high resolution files from a hard drive.