help a Die hard ANALOG guy choose a budget CDP

Running music direct from a hard drive, via USB will be more than adequate.  Using an ethernet setup does not automatically make better sound.  Setting up a NAS can be very expensive and is far more involved than simply connecting an external USB hard drive to a DAC.  The money would be mush better spent on just buying a better DAC.

I defy anyone to actually be able to hear a difference between hi-res files fed from an external USB hard drive and those sent via ethernet from a NAS.

@audiofreak32 Okay, consider yourself defied ;-)

IHME, I heard a difference as did plenty of visitors here and none of us claim golden ears. But I agree with you that if that changing the file storage to NAS is your only change it wouldn't be a great value investment.
The bigger difference vs. just changing from external local HDD(via Firewire to Mac) and NAS via ethernet(CAT6A) was getting rid of the Mac(running A+ or Amarra) completely and replacing with a microRendu with a good linear power supply. The digital source can make a critical difference and the better your DAC, the more you will likely appreciate it.
1)Running a lower powered device with cleaner power
2) less process intensive Linux O/S not fighting against many non-audio related processes that run on typical PCs & Macs
3) elimination of disk drive in the listening room (especially if not solid state drive)
4) optical isolation between NAS & audio analog components all improve the sound in most cases.
5) Regen technology and optimized USB output vs. full function computers
All these result in sonic improvements that result in more believable digital music. This stuff is discussed elsewhere in greater detail, Cheers,
Spencer

Lots more work/cost for not much benefit...

I'll be the outlier here.  I've dabbled in Computer Audio, and currently use a Bluesound whole home system.  I still get my greatest enjoyment from popping a disc into a transport, sending it to a DAC, and enjoy!  No operating system hassles, no Drm issues...and my DAC is agnostic about inputs...hard drives and spinning discs sound equally great .

My point is...

If someone is spending $XXX (say $4,000) total on a front end source...

There is NO WAY any CD player will touch a DAC at that same price.

I stopped spinning CDs about 6 years ago and never looked back... it has been proven to me time and time again by demonstration and in the transformation of friends' systems from CD to DAC.  Getting up to search for/change CDs is more time consuming than sitting in a chair with an iPad with access to 25,000 songs at your fingertip.