CD vs.same CD ripped to HD

Interesting thread! The solution I have arrived at is to use Sony MegaStorage 400CD units (3 units for a total of 1200 CD's) and connect them to external DACs. Two units connect to Denafrips Ares II in one system using optical inputs and one unit in a different system to Denafrips Pontus II). Sony's remote, large display and versatile U/I make it easy to randomly select CD's and tracks on each CD, almost like a CD jukebox. You can even create playlists or play random tracks across 400 CD's! I realize this is not a highly scalable solution: I can not handle 5000 CD's for example which would require ~12 MegaStorage CD400 units, but I can choose my better recordings and favorites on the three units I have.

Beyond that I use a Vault 2i and rip CD's, a task to be completed. That also connect to the Pontus II via Coax digital.

The external DAC was the key to puzzle of unlocking the sound quality on my CD collection, increasing  my appreciation of the collection tremendously :)

If the DACs and the rest of chain are equal , optical disc will have less digital jitter than ripped file playback of the same album 

so playback of the CD /SACD will always sound better than streaming .

in a lot cases , people are comparing 

optical disk playback on old internal DAC vs ripped file on new external DAC

if one has oppo 105 , the disc will sound better than the ripped file playback to the same oppo DAC (usb input ) 

Obviously , one needs a resolving sound system to hear the difference 

All of my CDs have been ripped and reside on my server, I don’t notice any difference between the FLAC files or spinning CDs from my transport player, also streaming can be added as well.  All of these formats sound very good.