CD Player vs. music streaming

I’ll throw my $.02 in here.  First - I agree w/ Duckworp in that Classical music streaming leaves something to be desired from a search standpoint.  However, this is easily enough overcome.  I listen to a lot of classical music and the ability to listen to many different recordings is really nice via streaming.  I’m discovering lots of recordings I wouldn’t have otherwise purchased.  You can easily search by composer or orchestra (artist).  And, you can rip your library to a hard drive to make it easily accessible (and searchable via the software). 

I would also suggest that streaming can be as good as CD/SACD played on a good player - if you have that goal.  I have a good streamer (Auralic Aries G2 - not the best, but well above the mid range) going into a good (but not great) DAC and it’s better than my CD/SACD player (also mid range).  I also have an Aurender server/streamer in another system - It’s also very, very good and better than my CD player.  Both are significant upgrades sound wise over the Bluesound Node 2 (a killer streamer for the price which I have in yet another system) from a streaming sound quality standpoint.  I actually like the Bluesound app the best out of all interestingly enough.  In any case, convenience, a nearly unlimited library and no physical media to store or search through are pretty compelling.  

To the OP, you can get a very good player/DAC if you want.  T+A, Simaudio, Esoteric, Marantz, etc.  all make such units which are very good.  

For me, I no longer play discs (despite a decent library of SACDs).  I have subscriptions to Qobuz (better sounding than Tidal at full resolution, but no MQA - hopefully soon), Tidal and Spotify premium.  Yes, I spend a fair amount monthly, but if it’s been recorded, I probably have access to it.  And, those services all have curated playlists for casual listening as well.  Spotify is much, much better than the other two in this regard. Tidal is frustratingly oriented toward hip hop/R&B in this regard - a reflection of the owners).  

So, for me - I spent up on streamer/servers and really have no need/desire to search through my disc collection again.  And, I’m discovering a lot of new music. My adult children all enjoy sharing new music with me too.  It’s been a wonderful development.

Best,

For myself personally I have heard high end CD players from today and  my LINN IKEMI from 20 years ago surpass the sound of streaming. Even implementing a high end DAC there is something lost in the transfer. Hi resolution streaming on the other hand shows promise but you are limited to what is available in that format. I love record store scavenging. You can buy CD's for a buck, used vinyl is cheap, it's something to do. Plus there is the ritual of putting that needle down seeing that big record spin. Putting the CD in a drawer that glides. It's the physical touching of an expensive machine I like.  

If you plan to use Roon and want to take advantage of it's upscaling capabilities, you'll need a fairly robust "something" to run Roon Core.  There are a lot of choices out there, personally, I'd stay way from running Roon Core on a laptop or PC and opt for something designed specifically for it. 

I started with an Innous Zenith MKII running Logitech Media Server.  SQ was excellent and I could use it for whole house stereo combining the Zenith (RAAT) with Raspberry PIs (RAAT) and AirPlay endpoints all into one "zone." 

I decided to try Roon and haven't looked back.  The Zenith can serve as a Roon endpoint and server.  As an endpoint, it is excellent.  It works as a server until you use DSP and upscaling at the same time, where I experienced dropouts.  To solve that problem, I purchased a sonicTransporter i7 for Roon DSP (without an SSD drive) to host Roon Core.  Everything is now working fine.

Had I not purchased the Zenith first and started with Roon, I would have taken a different network media server/streaming approach. Having said that, I'm quite happy with I have and will stick with it for the foreseeable.  That combination works well with my DAC (an Audio Mirror Tubadour II SE).  

You need both , cd and streamer . Streaming quality is inconsistent quality wise. Just my 2 cents worth.

I have a healthy vinyl collection and CD collection of which I have ripped about 60% of the CD's to my server.  I did a lot of homework before jumping into the streaming field and was running JRIver on a laptop to pull my ripped music. 
After attending AXPONA 2019 and seeing the many rooms and use of streamers ( mostly Aurender ) , I settled on an Aurender X100L  w 6TB  of storage ( lovingly used ) . Coupled with its Conductor App and Qobuz I not only have direct access to my ripped CD library, but Qobuz HR has been exceptional in broadening my listening of all genres . The Conductor app also gives you access to a huge base of internet radio stations.  Aurender also gives you free updates and their customer service is exemplary.  
I still love throwing an album on or putting a CD in the transport, but if you have a good+ system , buy a good+ streamer and don't look back.  ( If you have a good DAC get a streamer without one. )   

Happy Holidays & Happy Listening !