Why Purchase A CD Player or Transport ?

All the time doing research and trying different devices is extremely interesting to me, complexity is fun, I understand this may not be for everyone. And as Cleeds mentioned it doesn't have to be difficult, very nice setup can be assembled via tried and trued methods involving minimal complexity.

I'm a huge advocate for streaming, can't put into words how much my listening experience has improved since streaming. Not just sound quality, but also the ability to choose with just a few presses of buttons music to fit your particular mood at that particular moment! My listening session ebb and flow, stream of consciousness takes over.

One thing overlooked is all the time, money, blood, sweat and tears it can take to assemble a fine streaming set up. Mastering that, how could anyone say it's not as good as playing a CD?

All I did was add the iFi Zen Stream (with upgraded power supply), linked it to my WiFi and that’s all it took.  As others said, it doesn’t need to be that hard at all. 

I might move to the AirLens from the iFi Zen Stream 

@vonhelmholtz Just curious if you’re using the upgraded iFi power supply for the Zen?

Just curious if you’re using the upgraded iFi power supply for the Zen?

I added the iFi iPower Elite. This was a major improvement. Next I added a Shunyata system power conditioner and this improved all aspects of my system. When the Holo DAC arrives I’ll isolate the Zen Stream ethernet input by using two media converters and fiber optic cable. I will then decide if I want the AirLens.

I just ordered an external cd/dvd drive and will rip my CDs to my NUC server.  Contributor's remarks above made the move to a transport less of a priority for me.

@soix have you considered ripping those to a hard drive or NAS that you can locally stream? I find this better sounding than most transports. Just use a laptop and drive, good software like XLD rip them once and then play those CDs via network using your streaming software...

I have 1000s of soundboard concert recordings that aren't on the streaming services, so this is an important part of my streaming setup and many here do similar for various reasons. Cheers,

Spencer

@sbank That’s an excellent idea that I will definitely pursue at some point.