Better CDP or network player?

OP—reading your last post I see that you have a little confusion here and djones51 addressed it well.  At the risk of being pedantic, what you are seeking is:
1) A CD/SACD player that can also be used as a DAC.
2) a server, which takes files stored elsewhere and plays them back.
3) A CD ripper to creates these files from your CDs
4) a hard drive to store these files.

All of these can be purchased separately, but several of these features can be combined., potentially even in 1 box solution

mahler + djones

Thanks folks, it's getting clearer. The hobby was so much easier when everything was simpler, must be getting old..........OK, I guess that's a given.  LOL

Yes, it truly is fun to spend other peoples money. Spent my career working for defense contractors. What the GOV spends on electronics makes all but the most stratospheric audio gear seem like pocket change.

 Just for information purposes the aforementioned Cocktail Audio x40 or x45 is a one box solution. You can rip cd's or LP's to it's internal storage and play them back. You can stream audio over the internet. You can hook an external cd or phono player to it and play from those since it has digital and phono input to it's dac. You can hook it to an external large screen to view your library, it has an FM tuner for local station playback.  My familiarity with this is from my own resaerch in looking to move to storage and streaming. I am not recommending this unit I have no direct knowledge of it only using it as a reference there are other players that do the same things. Going the route of ripping with your computer and using network storage and a seperate player to attach to your dac is a good way and preferable by some especially if you have a good existing wired home network not sure how well wireless would handle hi res playback. The main reason I look more at the 1 box solutions is ease of use and I can't extend wired ethernet where my stereo resides. Whichever way you go try and read as much as possible about the different approaches and find one you would be comfortable with use, sound quality and economic wise. 

djones

Thanks, I will take a look at the CA x40-x45.................I'm sure that I COULD solve the puzzle of several devices interconnected and jump through the required hoops to make it work................but really, I'd just rather spend my time enjoying the music. LOL..............I have read that ripping red book to WAV actually makes them sound better.........not sure why that would be or SHOULD be, but I haven't done it, so I'll have to give them the benefit of the doubt,.......can we just spin a record and get on with life!!  LOL........thanks

The thing about going the storage route that appeals to me is being able to access the music by looking through my library on my tablet or tv screen instead of search through all my discs. You can create your own playlists of say favorite songs from one artist or have it play random like a radio station. Then again there is  something about handling the disc as listening to the whole ablum which is why I would like to keep my player