Don’t know what you’re so worked up about. It’s pretty simple really. You said:
1 device - just one, plugged into the back of a croft integrated controlled by my desktop (ok or an old ipad)
Any streamer that has a built-in DAC will do that. The most common recommendation is BlueSound Node. Plug it into the Croft, use your desktop (or iPad) to control the Node. Stream your choice of music streaming services, such as Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, etc).
Personally, I use a simple streamer I built using a Raspberry Pi 3+ computer board, with a HiFi Berry Dac+ Pro DAC/Hat, running Volumio OS. Yes, it is more complicated than the dedicated BlueSound Node, but it’s also less expensive. The Allo Boss II is a similar, but pre-built Raspberry Pi based streamer, but they push the Moode OS instead of the Volumio OS I’m using. I previously used Moode and did not care for it.
Anyway, it’s not that complicated. If you want simple, just get the BlueSound Node and plug it into your Croft and control it with your desktop or iPad.