DAC Questions

All that’s left is shopping for a connection cable.

Anyone have any experience with a Wireworld Starlight 8 coax?

For convenience ripping CDs is superior to individual play.

@rblondeau I do recall some Cary CD 308 had SACD capabilities, some others had HDCD capabilities. By hooking up to an external DAC, you may be unable to play the high resolution layers of your SACDs or HDCDs as they typically require the use of the player’s internal DAC, or a DAC made by the same manufacturer as the spinner. So in short, you might get a great upgrade by moving to a Lampizator Amber 3, but it might not play all of your discs.

All regular CDs (redbook format) should play just fine.

@blisshifi

+1

Yes, use coax, a WireWorld starlight is a reasonable interconnect.

Good step on the way to streaming. You will have a good DAC. Many folks have made the transition. I ripped my CDs about ten to fifteen years ago, then stopped playing them when I got a good quality streamer and then gave away my CDs. So, now I just use Qobuz streaming service $14.99 / month for access to millions of tunes and half a million high resolution albums. 
 

So, good move. I would not look to rip your CDs. But when you are ready just step forward to straight streaming with a good streamer. You will be able to get better / or as good sound quality as your CDs and skip the hours and hours of ripping. 

I would definitely rip your cds. The sound quality will be subjectively better and you are not tied to the internet or cell signal. Probably most of the music you listen to you already own, at least for me. It’s always great to find new artists though.