Best Way to Upgrade Digital


I have over 3K CD's and I am building a new system & not sure what is the best way to set up my digital.  Should I get A DAC & CD Ripper or a CD/SACD?  I'm leaning towards a CD Ripper with a DAC, given the number of CD's I have it will make it easier to play them & store tehm.  I have an old Benchmark DAC1, should I use this with a ripper?  Or get a new DAC? Do I need to update my Benchmark DAC?  Or should I just get a CD/SACD?  Trying to keep cost under $1,200 if possible.  Technology is changing so rapidly, that I don't want to spend lots of $$ for something that may be absolete or wothless in a couple of years.  Any suggestions?? I do own a Blunode Streamer, sounds ok, hoping the CD's will sound better.   
nyrican
Replace the benchmark with a neutral sounding dac, the benchmark was known to be far too cool sounding (shrill), I would walk into a music room at a show and I could tell they were using a benchmark and walked right out
Not much you can do about changes in technology, but you already have a decent DAC with the Benchmark and player in the Bluesound Node.  The Node has a DAC as well, it isn’t terrible, you should compare it to the Benchmark if you haven’t already.  Buying a Vault would consolidate everything under one component but it doesn’t make sense you already have the Node which doesn’t have a great resale value.  Also it is difficult to transfer files from the storage in the Vault to a different hard drive should you wish to go in a different direction—not impossible, but more difficult than it should be.
  What the OP needs is a place to store files and a way to rip them.  The simplest 
solution is to use a PC to edit metadata,as others have recommended.  You may need to purchase an external optical drive to rip the files if your computer doesn’t have a CD ripper.  Then store them to an external Hard Drive, which can be attached to the Node, or else played directly from the computer into the usb drive of the Benchmark.  If you play from the Node you can use the BlueOS interface, from the PC a separate program.
To my understanding, the data contained on CDs is limiting….please correct me if I am wrong, but no expenditure to update your playing of those CDs is ever going to equal what you can hear from HD digital, presuming that the HD digital files are created from a good master….of course, if the master was crap, no type of LP or digital reproduction will be great ….if you want easier access to those CDs go ahead and rip them, but all you will gain is convenience. Streaming HD from Qobuz, etc potentially will give better sound
So, if you understand the term sunk cost… that is your CD collection. Mine is now used for wall sound dampening. So, instead of investing more in a transport, better to invest in the highest quality streamer.
I like having and will keep my software (CDs)... the vinyl folks love owning their media and CDs are the same, just smaller and shinier! I have ripped 600+ CDs to my Small Green Computer Sonictransporter Roon server, and now I stream them. I haven’t fired up my good CD player in months, but I will keep it. I still buy CDs but I rip them straight away. I do love having the discs in my listening room as a fallback source. I can’t think of a reason to spend $1000-4000 on a CD player now, when server replay is so good (I have heard that the T+A and other high-end players are amazing though).

I'm reading reviews of top end streaming gear and DACs getting truly amazing playback from standard Redbook CDs. I don't hear much if any difference between most of my CD rips and MQA or Qobuz hi-res streams, but my system is "only" an $11k system, so not the highest resolution. My 64 year old ears aren't the highest resolving anymore either, to my dismay.
MAHLER123, love our suggestion of using a  external optical drive to rip the CD's.  Question can I Rip CD's directly onto an external Hard drive? If not, I assume I will need to rip through my MAC into the external hard drive?  Are there any external optical drives that RIP CD's Quickly?  I have a few thousand CD's. 
Is there a difference in external optical drives?   I saw a few in Amazon for $20-$30, seem rather inexpensive, not use to such pricing in this hobby.  As for the external hard drive will any external hard drive do?  If anyone has good results with certain gear, I welcome suggestions, thanks again to all.