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If the OP is using this JUST for his headphone system, is there any reason for him to dish out that much money for a Mac or any Windows equivalent laptop??  Seems like a waste if you've already got a decent desktop (I am assuming you have a decent one.).  I'd probably go with a netbook with a fairly large HDD to store all your music and use Foobar2000 to play it all.  I guess a SSD would be nice if you wish to get an even quieter performance.  AFAIK, Foobar is not offered for Macs.