uberwaltz,
I recognize it's your decision but CDs will be eliminated as a medium very soon so I wouldn't place too much importance on finding a unit that can rip CDs. Many of us use TIDAL HiFi to listen to over 35 million songs in RedBook CD quality for $20/month. I haven't purchased a CD in over a year and don't plan to. Have you tried to purchase a new car with a CD changer or even a CD player in it? The auto manufacturers know we won't be using CDs much longer.
TIDAL recently introduced MQA tracks to their collection and once they expand their MQA titles, game over for CDs. Make sure whichever music server you select integrates with TIDAL in a seamless manner.
If you don't want to fuss with a computer to rip your CDs, you can use a service such as MusicShifter to rip your CDs for .69 cents per CD. MusicShifter returns your original CDs along with your music ripped in FLAC (lossless) format on DVDs, about 7 CDs per DVD. Their rips sound as good if not better than rips I make using DBPoweramp. You'll also have your CDs archived to DVDs so you can sell your CDs while they still have some value.
You will need a computer to copy the songs from the MusicShifter DVDs to your music server hard drive or a NAS. This is a trivial copy operation assuming you have a computer with a DVD drive on the same network as your music server.
Many A'gon members have suggested an Aurender music server. It's a great music server with terrific TIDAL integration but you'll still need a DAC. With MQA at our doorstep you owe it to yourself to audition MQA Studio tracks with a good MQA DAC to see whether you'll want an MQA DAC.
I recognize it's your decision but CDs will be eliminated as a medium very soon so I wouldn't place too much importance on finding a unit that can rip CDs. Many of us use TIDAL HiFi to listen to over 35 million songs in RedBook CD quality for $20/month. I haven't purchased a CD in over a year and don't plan to. Have you tried to purchase a new car with a CD changer or even a CD player in it? The auto manufacturers know we won't be using CDs much longer.
TIDAL recently introduced MQA tracks to their collection and once they expand their MQA titles, game over for CDs. Make sure whichever music server you select integrates with TIDAL in a seamless manner.
If you don't want to fuss with a computer to rip your CDs, you can use a service such as MusicShifter to rip your CDs for .69 cents per CD. MusicShifter returns your original CDs along with your music ripped in FLAC (lossless) format on DVDs, about 7 CDs per DVD. Their rips sound as good if not better than rips I make using DBPoweramp. You'll also have your CDs archived to DVDs so you can sell your CDs while they still have some value.
You will need a computer to copy the songs from the MusicShifter DVDs to your music server hard drive or a NAS. This is a trivial copy operation assuming you have a computer with a DVD drive on the same network as your music server.
Many A'gon members have suggested an Aurender music server. It's a great music server with terrific TIDAL integration but you'll still need a DAC. With MQA at our doorstep you owe it to yourself to audition MQA Studio tracks with a good MQA DAC to see whether you'll want an MQA DAC.