Music Server for feeding Theta Gen VIII DAC

@honest1 when you say you want to rip CDs to your hard disk, is it that:

a) You want to also use your computer to play the music back into your audio system but your computer isn't nearby so you can't simply connect a DAC to your computer?

b) You want to rip CDs from your computer but don't really care if your computer to be in use or not when playing back music for your audio system?

c) You want to rip CDs from your computer but then you do not want your computer to be used at all when playing back music? In other words you need the ripped files to be stored somewhere else so you can turn off your computer.

I want my audio system to be free from my computer as much as possible.  I've been debating whether I'd prefer to load everything from my computer onto an outboard hard drive, or have the music server rip them from an internal CD drive to internal storage.  It would certainly be easier to have one machine do it, like the Naim Uniti, but then I'd have to connect it to the internet to get cover art and such, and I"m not sure if the files would be transferable from the Uniti or the Innuous mentioned above to some other HD to use in a different room, or if I decide to change servers.  But I do not want my main computer to be used in normal operation, only when loading new music.  Part of this is my deep distrust of computers and the internet.  Every few years, my computer starts getting slow and I have to replace it, presumably due to junk files picked up from the internet.  I do not want to have to go through this for my music system also.  Part of it is also the awkwardness of stringing cables from my computer to my music system.  I would like to control the server from a tablet that is dedicated to just the music system.

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@honest1   In your case, it may make sense to pay the premium for stellar support from an appropriate manufacturer and dealer. Once you are familiar with this area you can move forward with more independent choices, should you want to.

@honest1 you could consider storing your music files on an external hard disk or network server, so it is separate from both your music server and from your computer. That way, if you decide to change music servers that has nothing to do with your ripped music, and if your main computer crashes or needs to be upgraded, you can do so without it having any impact on your saved music files.

We're doing something similar ourselves, with music ripped from an iMac onto a Synology NAS running Minimserver. The LUMIN network streaming hardware loads and plays the music directly from the NAS, even if the iMac is turned off. You can also get a LUMIN L1 NAS that is preconfigured to serve music files.

Many of the other network streamers will support similar setups, even some of those that also have internal hard disks (although in that case you won't be using the network streamer's internal hard disk). So you do have options.

The other benefit to using something like a NAS is they can be set up with RAID which protects against data loss in the event of a hard disk failure. So you won't have to re-rip all your files. It won't prevent loss in the event of a catastrophic disaster, or if your computer gets infected by malware that deletes files, but it's better than a typical setup.

As @david_ten said, getting help from a local dealer or the manufacturer could be your best bet.