Best Digital Music Server


I am looking for opinions of the "best" digital music server considering the following:

1) CD ripping capability/available formats
2) User Interface - I am crazy from trying to ID "Unknown Albums", dropped first tracks, missing album art, etc. on my PC.
3) HiRes (is Sony's technology -as an example - audibly different?) capability.
4) Streaming flexibility - not a big part of my listening experience, but getting bigger all the time it seems.
5) Last but not least - SOUND QUALITY.  I have a reasonably nice DAC (DA2) built into my McIntosh MC2700 PreAmp, so would prefer a '"no internal DAC" solution, but open to it if all the other rankings say buy it anyway.

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

Mark
mhwilliford
@mhwilliford : Best of luck! Here's hoping you'll find something just right for you!
In your price range Small Green Computer servers and Sonore Renderers work very well.  Get ROON.  It is great.  Stretch your budget as much as possible.  You can get a server with a built in ripper or use an external drive.   You can get onboard storage up to 8 TB SSD or just 2 TB.   If you have questions, Andrew at SGC can guide you.  I am presently using their top of the line which cost me about $8K.  They have great set-ups for $2500.   Innouous and Wolf are also great choices.   Use optical isolation to reduce noise......See their websites

The year 2024, now going on 2025. Which is the best-sounding music server that can play FLAC (high-definition lossless) files?

I agree with Soix,  that's what originally attracted me to the Bluesound Vault.  It made PC audio easy.   Then I bought an Aurender and they do an even better job of taking the computer out of computer audio.   Auralic and Innuos too.   Companies with serious software capabilities and solid hardware.  More importantly,  support.  That's what you are buying into. And in most cases a slick user interface.  Worth it in my opinion