Best standalone music server?

@mahler123
Exactly my thought process right from the start
Nobody in my house wants to be an it expert after a hard days work, just select a few tracks or pick an internet radio station on the bluos app and let it play.
Glad to see my choice was a path others have already taken for much the same reasons
still enjoying my unit and maybe adding a Node for my daughter to use in her room, probably just connected to a soundbar...lol, evil I know!

Yes, all too often we (me too) try to tell folks what sounds better etc...when all they want is a simple all in one solution.  Once they use that solution and it's easy, they enjoy music. Real music.  I too am going through trying to become an IT guy to get the best sound quality and it's taking away from the fun.  I keep waiting on that one component to come out that will be the be all end all. Roon core and a decent hard drive, ethernet that is isolated and have all the noise taken out of the signal chain.  Yes, I want it all, but right now, that's not out there.  Melco is the closest, but no Roon core and it won't have that.  I may wait for the new Melco units to come out, get the Roon NUC from Roon once that comes out and call it a day.

Glad you love your VAult2 

Antipodes have it all, including Ruin...

Regarding "best" standalone server.  I too am looking for something with an integrated DAC, storage and ability to stream Tidal.  I am thinking about ripping all my CDs (about 1000...sigh).  I considered the Bluesound Vault.  It certainly is inexpensive and appears easy to use...however I am concerned about sound quality.  The only reason I would go to the trouble to rip my CDs would be for convenience AND sound quality.  If my ripped CDs don't sound as good as they do on my CD player I doubt I will listen to them very much.  I want a streamer/DAC that will sound AT LEAST as good as my CD player if not better. A product like the Aurender A10 looks appealing as a higher end alternative to the Bluesound.

 I have a Sony 5400ES SACD player and a Meridian 805.24 CD player.  I realize neither of these players are anywhere near state of the art so maybe it will not so difficult to equal or surpass there performance.  My other option is to abandon the Music Server idea altogether and replace my two disc players with one high end player like the Esoteric and use it's DAC with an inexpensive streamer for online content.  Any opinions?  or alternatives?

@randyhat 
in all honesty the rca outputs of the vault are a little soso, i thought the bass was overcooked
however using the digital coax out i think i prefer the sound to the original cd played through my esoteric sa50!
and yes prior to the vault i was using the esoteric to stream simple stuff like pandora and spotify through and it did sound good, but the vault sounds a lot better.
of course there are pc based systems that will sound better but i am very satisfied with the results
so much so that i have put my esoteric up for sale right here on agon!
mostly listening to tidal right now...yes you lot were right!