Another idiot 'Audiophile' Journalist:
Typical computers, though—dedicated or not—aren't optimized for music playback; because they run all sorts of processes irrelevant to audio, and, because noise usually doesn't affect nonmusical functions, they are saddled with noise—not the directly audible kind, but the kind that pollutes audio signals and makes them sound worse, in a variety of ways. The noise comes not just from apps working in the background—antivirus software, word processors, and a host of nondefeatable, automatically updating programs—but also from ports and pathways designed for multiple functions and not engineered to keep polluting EMI away from precious music signals.
You can pare down Windows or Linux or OS/X. Also a note to JVS: It's the DAC's JOB to isolate and sanitize it's inputs. Even on 'dedicated' music streamers (which all are running a flavor of Linux) there are processes that aren't related to audio running that you can't control either.
My server is a Dell R620 tucked away in my basement. 64GB RAM, 12 Core / 24 Thread CPU, Windows with both file share and UPnP, 10GBe MM fiber to a Cisco 2360, also hosts my GNS3 server and Terminal Server DLL hack to allow multiple RDP sessions so some coworkers can sign in and run router, switch, firewall emulation.
I can never tell when they are on the system.