Macbook to USB to which one?

Thesoundhouse ... I respect that your a dealer and that your experience is vast , but I find it hard to believe you can't find a CD player at any price that compares to a music server used at the same bit rate . I have the new IMac , ( no fan noise at all ) run from its digital output to a Levinson Dac ( #360s ) I've tried others , and the sound is considerable thiner than my mid fi CD player ( Marantz SA11 ) . The IMac has its own power conditioner and i'm using an audio grade power cord and digital link . If I'm doing something wrong please let me know .
Have just ordered the Ayre C5 .

Thank you TheSoundhouse, my goal was to spend very little (hence the HRT streamer and V-dac questions. I already have a MacBook and buying a mini would be needless cost. I appreciate your idea though.

If you plan to use USB you will be limited to 16/48 files with both the MF VDAC and the DACmagic. One thing to point out is that the DACmagic has high levels of jitter when using USB. The MF VDAC by contrast has impressively low levels of jitter when using USB as reported by Stereophile. If your primary use is going to be USB and you will be using standard 16/44.1 I would go with the VDAC over the other options, added flexibility of additional inputs over the HRT and better USB performance compared to the DACmagic.

Bwp,
Thank you! That is exactly what I needed to know.

Doesn't the Macbook have the headphone out which is also a digital output? You can buy a simple plug that converts the headphone out to toslink. Then you don't limit yourself to USB DACs, which really takes the better DACs out of contention. I would double check your manual to see if the headphone out also doubles as a digital out. I have three mac laptops in my house (mine, son and daughter) and all of them have the digital headphone outs. Two of them are already 18 months old.