Does a ripped cd onto a digital format sound better than the cd played on the cdp

Roon sends ripped, downloaded, and Tidal files via ethernet to an Ayre QX-5/20 digital hub and I sit with an iPad selecting what I want to hear.  The sound is superb, e.g., the DSD download of "Time Out" from Acoustic Sounds seems to sound a bit better than the SACD played on my beloved Ayre C-5xeMP.  I've been an audio enthusiast since the early 50s, and this really does seem to be a golden age.

CDs that I have FLAC ripped to my Antipodes server and play from there via USB through my Denafrips Pontus DAC, definitely sound better than via my Rega Apollo CDP.
More body, more detail, less strident treble. No contest in my opinion

Ten years ago, I sold my Pioneer Elite PDS-95 transport, a giant of a CD transport, after extensively comparing its sound to a highly modified Squeezebox (both feeding a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC). The Squeezebox received its bits from a Mac mini via ethernet.


I haven't looked back since. Now with Roon and Tidal, I wouldn't invest in a CD or transport, and if I had one, I'd make the leap into digitizing my collection. Putting it into a digital file (or access via a streaming service) is so much more convenient.

About the only thing CD medium has going for it now is that great players and CD's themselves are pretty cheap these days as the industry moves over to streaming devices/services, and there are probably a handful of SACD or HDCD titles that may not be able to rip or which sound better being decoded by their SACD/HDCD hardware. Although, many of those titles are now available as high res DSD offerings.