Put together one of these--
http://www.diyparadise.com/usbmonica.html

Not much to it, just hook up a power supply and a few connectors and put it in a box.  

It sounds way way better than my cheapo CD player.  I really should have tried the audio out from my laptop and then this for an A/B comparison but I didn't bother.  I can now use it to play CDs on my laptop as well as streaming audio (like pandora) and downloads.