What Hardware Do I Need to Play Files?

Modern wi-fi is plenty fast enough to play lossless audio files over the wireless network. Wired gigabit ethernet can be even faster. Many people here are using network file storage (a NAS which is short for Network Attached Storage) to store and access audio and video files. Even for high-res and DSD and movies. It works well and allows for a centralized storage point for all of the audio and video files. All computers in the home have access to it. Very handy to be able to have separate audio systems in the music room, bedroom, kitchen and other rooms to all have access to the same music files to play. Means that you only have to manage the music files in one place and then have access to those files from any audio setup in the home. All over either wi-fi or ethernet. But those sort of setups get complicated. It's much easier to understand a setup that has the music files stored locally on the internal hard drive in a laptop or on an external USB drive than to understand and manage a setup built around network file storage.

 

First you'll need decent software for ripping CDs and also palyback of your music.

dBPoweramp (about $30/$40) is great for ripping CDs and EAC is freeware that does a good job. In my view, both options are better than ITunes.

JRiver (about$80) is great for playback of your music files and then there's Foobar2000 which is freeware that does a good job. In my view, both options are a lot better than ITunes.

Then there's the hardware:

As others have mentioned the most simple way to connect your computer to your stereo, is to get a 3.5mm to RCA Stereo cable, plug the 3.5mm jack into the headphone/speaker jack of your computer and the RCAs into your amp. However, I doubt that you'll get as good sound as you do from your CD player. This simple method uses the DAC (Digital to Analog Convertor) in your computer's soundcard, which is likely to be a cheap component and not very good, although it would be better than using Bluetooth. Forget Bluetooth, unless you want sound inferior to MP3s.

To get good sound and probably surpass your CD player you'll need a USB DAC or Network Streamer. A USB DAC is connected to your computer via a USB cable and it will have RCA outputs or digital oiutputs to plug into your amp. A network streamer will have a DAC built in, you connect it to your computer with an ethernet cable or wirelessly and it will have RCA and digital outputs to connect to your amp. Most Network Streamers come with a remote control. These are your best option if you want good sound, you should enjoy it more than your CD player. It also opens the door to Hi Res digital if you're interested.