However, the more different things the computer has to do at one time, the more the odds of mistakes occur. Thus means that run lots of processes or operations at the same time, many hidden in the so-called 'background', and others right in front of you including any application you can get that will run on the computer and lots of 'services' that look for input from the keyboard and mouse, manage the fixed drives, control the user interface, etc.
To further explain, most multipurpose computers running operating systems like macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu (a full version of Linux with a GUI) are designed to almost anything within the limits of the hardware. So, adding an application on top of that to further process the sound or bypass the OS is inherently antithetical to the minimalist design of such devices and, yes, even inferior to the excellent music-processing algorithms built into distributed music-serving software like Roon. That doesn't mean they don't exist or that they can make a music server based on a multipurpose computer sound better, but bridge devices, streaming DAC's, and everything made by Aurender actually are stripped down computers with an operating system already optimized for playing music. Now that many people use NAS's with bridge devices or streaming DAC's, or all-in-one music servers like the Aurender N10, you don't hear so much about Amarra, Audirvana Plus, and Pure Music anymore. The main functions are usual: play music, create playlists.