Looking for a network player

spoutjack, I suggest you look at the Aurender music server models.  For example, the Aurender N100t Music Server.   This unit enables you to store all your ripped CD's on its hard drive for playing using an Apple iPad to control the selection.  I own the Aurender N10 and like it very much.   In addition, the Aurender connects to Tidal Streaming (and Qu Buz) for high quality non-compressed music listening.  Your iPad allows you to easily switch between Tidal streaming and your CD collection.   The Aurender has several different outputs for easy connection to your Asahi Kesei DAC in your Hegel.   

See:

http://www.aurender.com/page/audiophile

Correction.  The Aurender model number is the N100H.  The Aurender N100H digital music player supports DSD (DSF, DFF), WAV, FLAC, ALAC, APE, AIFF, M4A and other major formats at native bit and sampling rates.  It is equipped with a high performance USB digital audio output, Ethernet port, 120GB solid-state drive for cached playback, the N100H is also the ideal solution for playing

high resolution digital music collections from NAS.

The N100H digital music player incorporates many innovations originally developed for the higher priced Aurender S10 and W20 models, including a solid-state drive cache for playback which eliminates  latency and drop-outs from NAS drives. The high performance USB digital audio output was developed using the same engineering as the USB outputs on the flagship Aurender W20. 

Aurender has several models you can choose from depending on your budget and application.   I suggest you review their web site for more information.

Check out the review of the Sonore microRendu on computeraudiophile. It is very impressive, flexible and a sonic steal at its price point. Cheers,
Spencer

Aurender seems out of my budget as of now :( but i really wish to have one some day....