Ok, my laptop idea didn't work out to well as it makes some horrible sounds when hooked to my receiver. I am thinking of building a htpc, if so would I still need a dac. Or could I just build the dac in with the htpc. How could I build a low cost htpc that doesn't sound like crap. I know I would like to stream movies down the road, but for now music is what is important. Actually lets just stick with music play back, as when I am done with the basement I can move this HTPC to the garage. So really my needs are a simple HTPC that I can connect to my network to access my music, via remote app on my phone. It must sound decent and be able to play back flac. Wow I really simplified that. If I can't build the dac into it, then I guess it gives me reason to buy another piece of audio gear.