Network streamer with hard drive

How big is the "large collection"? I believe my local dealer told me the Bluesound Vault 2i can hold approx. 2000 CDs. I also believe it can support an external hard drive, but I'm not sure about that. It's a pretty good value at $1199 MSRP. Only caveat vs some other streamers: Requires Ethernet connection. I think you can overcome that limitation by using Power-Line Ethernet adapters if you can't run Ethernet cable from your router to the Vault 2i.

Take a look at the mojo Audio déjà vu. Been very happy with mine for a couple of years

Another vote for Vault 2i. It has a decent built-in DAC but if you can use an external DAC like Denafrips Ares II or Ayre Codex, you’re in for a real treat.  

Tidal or Qobuz subscription is a must if you want to take advantage of above setup.  

John, I don't know what your budget is. I run a Lumin T2 which streams and has a very good DAC. I have a solid state hard drive plugged into the Lumin, and the SSD has a couple thousand CD's on it. I find the Lumin to be an excellent one box solution, it sounds great too.

Does the Vault2i require Ethernet?  I have the Vault2, and use Ethernet, but I thought that the “I” series enhanced the WiFi.  Anyway, before I had Ethernet wired the house I had bad luck with power line adapters.  If the adapters have to cross on breaker, there is a 40 volt drop; 2 breakers 80, etc; a sudden drop can cause the adapters to stop working.  It also can’t be a good thing to be mixing the music and the power...

40volt drop across a breaker? what type of breaker are you using? 

A breaker is not electronic as far as needing to have a voltage to operate it. it opens when either it over heats or magnetically depends on the breaker type of course. But you should not have a voltage drop across it other then what little resistance is imposed by the wires etc. effectively a breaker is only a wire when not broken(open). 

I believe code says something like 100mili volts drop across a breaker is a bad breaker. also you should not have more then .05% drop from the input of the panel to the end of the longest run in your building so about 6volts on a 120v system. (I googled that so depends on state country etc.). 

also you would be surprised at what runs on the power lines. many control functions are there from the power company. we can transmit many different frequencies across a single cable power is only 60hz not exotic by any means. so overlapping gigahertz signal is not an issue. you could have issues with many terminations-different wire lengths that can cause issues with transmission of hi frequencies.

 lets not even get into whats induced on the power lines from every source if electro magnetism, sun included.

Thanks for the recommendations. library size is about 550gb and expected to grow. 

Aurender A10.  They pop up used for 3500    4tb hdd  Does everything and sounds very good. AKM dac so much smoother than the Lumin’s 
MQA. 
Fantastic Conductor app which is the best native app out there. 

Glen- 
check out the Powerline Adapter article from the NYT circa 2017.
I can tell you that after 2 years of having Powerline Adapters die on me every few months, I am never going that way again