PettyOfficer, I really can't see any real truth or facts in your arguments.
As I see PC audio, it is a diy bolt together hobby for the keen audiophiles.
NO manufacturer like Apple or Del will ever produce what you are claiming should exist. It is our hobby, it is small town, 1% of the population if that.
Lets face it, our hobby is the same. You go out, buy a DAC, AMP, SPEAKERS, love em or hate em, and sell, and we go round again.
Now with PC audio, we buy a PC (no surprise that one). Then we buy a connection lead or USB convertor, whoa, that's technical! Then we buy a DAC thingy, hey I'm getting scared now... and then we hook the whole thing up to, yes you guessed it - an amp and a speaker!
So, let's rewind here. What was the problem? Oh, the virus thing, the software thing, the hard disc thing, the network thing. Like, how many in the real world can avoid those things. Deal with a bank, get a loan, apply for a job, plan your holiday, can ANY of those things be done WITHOUT a computer nowadays.
In my view being a Mac user since the first Mac commercially available, the set up is for chimps. If you want a real brain drain, and bugs and viruses, or badly designed software (I am talking system software and Office suits), buy a windows box!
The Mac hardware is SO CHEAP. Come on guys, you are spending more on interconnects, a bit of wire. A Mac Mini with Quad Core and SSD that can run a TV, stream music, play games better than an X-Box AND do your accounting on, hey it's a GIFT.
So, lets stop beefing, and lets enjoy the journey. Isn't that why we are on this forum, why we buy this stuff and build hifi kits ect. It the love of doing it. The software is also cheap, the massive external drives are cheaper than ever. It's potentially a cheaper route to audio bliss, way cheaper than Esoteric CDPs and fancy 2k interconnects.