Digital Path to Complete my System

I am a little bit into the weeds here... My digital knowledge/background is - how do you say ...less than zero. Speak to me as you "would a young child ...or a Golden Retriever". Digital path...ethernet - streamer - Dac/clock - to my preamp...is this correct??? The clock portion – I am at a loss…??? My experience/purchases with used or "b" stock has not been positive; prefer new with a great warranty & exceptional customer service. Several of the paths mentioned have good/great reviews. I am retired and have put this money aside to finalize my system...it is a lot of $$ for me personally, but will match/complete my system. I will travel to hear the system and make comparisons. To simplify... a one box/complete system or separates? The price point is a stretch...so want do it right...don’t want to hassle with upgrading. I will be mostly streaming but use my CD player about 20 % of the time...open to ripping my 2000+ CD collection into a data bank....pros/cons of this...I have no idea? I have come to embrace the simplicity of the streaming path,,,simple, easy, choice at the push of a button. Looking at different options - can not believe some of the cost/price points...wow?? Looking at a quality streamer, a great/exceptional (very exceptional) DAC/clock, interconnects/cables that match, easy user interface, reliable, well-made/designed, reliable warranty, great customer service, on-line upgrades, and most important musical equivalent to my analog side.... Am I asking alot????

Step a) Get a high quality drive for ripping all your CDs such as the Pioneer unit below. Install it on your PC and use it to rip all your cds. Don’t use some crappy drive to rip the CDs.

Step b) Set up a NAS (Network Attached Storage) for your house. You can put all your ripped cd files into such a NAS. The streamer will stream all your files contained in your NAS and your NAS can be physically sitting in any room of the house.

You can also buy HIRES official studio masters (digital albums i.e. digital files) and put it on your NAS for permanent ownership (like you had permanent ownership of your cds) i.e. In this case, you won’t be renting your music through streaming services like tidal, qobuz, etc on a monthly basis. You can however use such services to discover new music. If there’s a album you like, you can buy the hires album from qobuz (even a official studio master) for 10 bucks or so and support the artist better.

Streaming such files/studio masters from your NAS is the highest fidelity you can obtain.

The streamers i mentioned in earlier comment will also do your rental services like tidal, qobuz, etc...which is what most guys do (the easier thing.. get rental access to millions of albums...buy and forget).

P.S. Why are you worrying about "clocks"?! The clock’s inside your DAC and a good dac will have a good clock...don’t worry about clocks and never use any external clocks (that some guys may try to sell you).

@jmrrobbie1 Stated " I will be mostly streaming but use my CD player about 20 % of the time...open to ripping my 2000+ CD collection into a data bank....pros/cons of this...I have no idea? I have come to embrace the simplicity of the streaming path,,,simple, easy, choice at the push of a button. Looking at different options - can not believe some of the cost/price points...wow?? "

Firstly referencing my own experiences had in this area, and reining then in to ones had using my own system.

With the DAC that is now in use, CD is used much more than the Vinyl Source, the End Sound is extremely enjoyable. When doing A/B comparisons of same Albums on CD vs Vinyl, it was the DAC in use now that created the condition that when either medium was able to play on for a short period of time, there was not a want developing to put on the other.

CD today has proved a excellent Source and one that keeps the Cartridge from use, meaning longer periods are now to be had before concerning oneself about costly replacements.

There is enough evidence on the Forum and others to suggest ripped CD's into FLAC or WAV files will be as good as CD, even if replayed from a particular type if set up for a Laptop or PC.   

I have embraced the concept of Streaming as a Source for the same points you have raised, as well as the ease of attaining access to a Vast Library of Recordings.

The part I have difficulty with is the idea of Hiring the Music, I never used Record or CD Libraries when I was able to easily walk into a Local Library and do this.

The other part I have difficulty with is the remuneration to the individuals producing the music content. For some half a million down loads are required to remunerate the artist to the same level 100 Hard Medium Sales will generate.

For that reason I attempt to buy Five Albums per Year from New Artists whether from Kick Starter or their Merch' Sales Portals, last resort to buy the usual on line methods, even though this is the most user friendly if a quality issue is discovered and a return of item is wanted to occur. 

My experiences had can't visualise where there is a Streaming Source to be found at monies within your Budget that will be Parity with a well thought out CD Source or Vinyl Source.

Recently an individual I know who has very nice Vinyl Source, who has invested numerous years of their time developing a Streaming Source, and are of the View there is not a betterment to be had in relation in how close they perceived it had advanced toward being Parity with the Vinyl Source. After hearing a Visitors brought along recently released to the Market CDT > DAC in their own system, as well as the CDT > System owners DAC, has now as good as abandoned the Streaming Source as the main Source and replaced it with CD as the Source. 

I can only recommend that a home trial is sought when the final shortlist is assembled. 

I use a Melco N 100 NAS.  I bought Melco Optical disc player to use as a ripper (it can also be used as a CD player) but it will accept other optical rippers.  Since I have thousands of CDs I also bought an additional Melco storage unit.

   The N100 will also play music, usb only.  The Melco app isn’t great so I use mConnect.  You can also play Tidal and Qobuz streaming services.

  I added a Cambridge Audio CXN streamer because of its facility with podcasts and Internet Radio, but most importantly because it adds AirPlay and Chromecast.  I use the latter for Apple Music and a boutique streaming service for historical recordings.  The CA doesn’t have internal storage but works well with Melco serving as a NAS

@jmrrobbie1 What is the rest of your system and please especially share your preamp and phono stage? What kind of sound are you looking for?

Given what you’re looking for I’d recommend looking at the Innuos Zenith.  It offers excellent performance and has a built-in CD drive so you can just simply rip all your CDs directly into it rather than messing with external drives, etc.  Also important is their Sense app that gets top marks for usability and sound quality and is constantly being updated for better performance via easy firmware updates.  Last, Innuos offers excellent customer support so if you have any questions/issues down the road you’re in good hands.  If it was me I’d also add something like a Denafrips Hermes DDC that employs an OCXO clock and also opens up using other connection possibilities to a DAC, most notably a potentially superior i2S connection if the DAC accepts it.  Considering performance, convenience, ease of use, and customer support this could be a very attractive option and still leaves you over $10k in your budget for a DAC.

Which gets to the DAC.  That’s a very personal choice based on what sound characteristics you’re looking for so not knowing that I can’t make any meaningful recommendations.  At your budget I’d be looking at Bricasti, Meitner, Weiss, T+A, and Lampizator (if you’re open to tubes) among others.  Hope this helps, and best of luck.