To Stream or not to Stream

Almost forgot, if you're still interested in ripping high-quality files from your CDs, look for a program called Exact Audio Copy. It's not only one of the best out there, but it's free, and will enable you to rip FLAC files. It's a little tedious to figure out the install, seems like the website is translated from German, if I recall.

Being from McIntosh assuming the digital is good you could not be more wrong ,since theysold  their company out went the Audiophiles and part of their integrity .
some are in part made in China ,only their upper end is made in NY,and digital is by far their worst product ,if you want great digital 
buy from a company that specialize in just that Digital !!

1. There will be many opinions, some well formed, some not on ripped vs streaming, but having both, i almost never listen to my ripped CDs when there is likely a better sounding version on Tidal. Why better? Typically because they have re-mastered versions. I don’t find a big difference to most HD formats if the original recordings and masterings were excellent
2. I don know much about the McIintosh DAC
3. I also pretty much ignore the oddball format wars. Most music is RedBook - so i worry about where the music is. USB is a fine interface, if you take the proper precautions. Much to learn there- mostly about noise / ground isolation.
4. more on DSD and I’ll continue to say "who cares?"

5. Yada yada. You may think i don’t care about sound. Wrong -- believe me I care a LOT about sound quality, and have a crazy revealing system, but you are barking up the wrong tree worrying about all the niche steaming/digital formats. They really are not needed for great sound, and what does it matter since the music is not in those formats, unless you want to keep replaying the remastered version of "some nobody plays obscure songs, not very well". Pass.

6. Roon. Roon. Roon. I cannot imagine buying a last-century tech streaming appliance.  I also dont want to pay for custom hardware.  Nucleus is nice, but start by running it on an old computer. read up about how to get the best out of Roon. (the whole USB and network interface bit from above). Roon has its issue, but its also a great music-centric platform. I went from running it on a space 9 year old macbook pro, to building a dedicated ROCK server from an intel NUC. One key to good USB and roon sound is truly quiet, well isolated bridges. I custom build those from Raspberry Pis with custom power supplies and isolation. Not for everyone, but you can pay various firms to sell you the same thing.
Roon. Roon. Roon.
Now to really learn abotu streaming and the ins and outs i’d rather spend qutie a few hours watching this guy’s videos that asking random people here.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR4tuhqPppVp-PD0q17sPEA
G

@ricred1 Nice stuff. I see it's another offering where you have to buy the separate PSU 

to deliver considerably better audio performance.

a re-clocker if you want even better SQ. Add and a ripper if you want to rip. It's an unexpected education / learning of how something that seemed like a lay-up (before I knew better) is turning out to be the most difficult part of my journey. The funny part is Antipodes has a photo with all 4 components together and they look like a single, normal sized component. Maybe besides the benefit of isolation it makes sense to piecemeal a solution because instead of one very expensive box, you can buy each over time to "get there"? It is something to consider.

@audioman58 You brought up something I had not mentioned - I have the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6. One of the satellites is the rack so I'm able to connect via cat6. I am getting close to 1Gbps, so I'm not worried about throughput, however, you've introduced yet another expensive component I need to consider - an ethernet switch? Where does it end?!  haha The Rockna gear looks solid.

@builder3 The Lumina was on my short list before I started thinking a ripper would be nice. 

@audioman58 Understood. The McIntosh DAC may not be good and being new I thought for the reputation and price that it had to be decent. I could be dead wrong. I get it. I'm now leaning toward a streamer with a good DAC. A streamer that can interface with a ripper. The HiFi Rose seems to fit the bill again. 

Speaking of the Rose - I could save money by buying it outside the US, but will the power will be different and unusable in the US? The UK for example has far better pricing than the US.

@itsjustme Funny, I found Hans a few days ago on YouTube and have watched at least 9 of his videos. After midnight here... more ground covered, knowledge tucked-away, closer to something. Tomorrow, actually later today I have consulting phone call planned where I hope to have a number of other questions answered as well as some follow-ups on what I've learned here. Goodnight everyone..