Music server recommendations needed.

Look at a 432evo Aeon highest performance server out there for the money, we have found.

very advanced design separate low noise cpu, of its own electrically isolated motherboard, electrically isolated clock board and usb card, two external sbooster power supplies, custom OS designed to maximize sound quality.

We tested this server against a 27k Innous Statement next gen. and found the much less expensive Aeon to sound just as good.

also tested vs a 12k Aurender where we sounded better.

fully modular hardware allows for future improvements as better hardware becomes available

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect NJ

432evo dealer

I ripped all my CDs ten to fifteen years ago. Lots of work and I haven’t listened to one of them in several years. In my system and in those assembled at many different levels of investment streaming from Qobuz (or Tidal) is indistinguishable from the physical disk or a locally stored file. For $14.99 / month you have access to over ten million albums of which half a million are of greater then red book resolution. I would find a great streamer (I recommend Aurrender)… get it in your system… then if you find a few of your CDs are not available from your streaming service… just rip those and store them on your streamer. But after you have access to all this high quality content, don’t be surprised if you don’t start exploring new music or different performances and leave the old stuff behind.

Mr. Prentice you have forgotten one  the greatest advantages of building a ripped library:

most people are visual and by seeing a library you are reminded about  the artists you like.

so with a great server you have access to your existing cd library plus streaming win win.

I'm new to streaming but I think it's the way to go. I still play my CDs but spend more time streaming.

“The ability to effortlessly digitize the CDs, and then properly catalog, search and listen to my digitized music is the end goal.”

I chose Aurender ACS100 for its superb library management and expandable storage. I wanted to steer clear of laptop/desktop in my day to day use. There isn’t anything else that comes close to what Aurender offers in terms of ease and convenience. All you need is a iPad to run ACS Manager app. App experience is the most critical part of managing and curating digital content and there is none better than ACS Manager. Take a test drive and decide for yourself. 
 

I recently tried Zen Mini with 1TB storage to see how it stacks against my ACS100. All it took was few hours of ripping and playback with Zen to see how much superior my ACS100 was as a content server. 
 

I am not aware of any server that will also play SACD discs. These are two different techs. I suggest you hang on to Jay’s Audio player for SACD playback.