CD Player vs. music streaming

:) the CD is still the king on the hill in terms of price to output quality ratio. The only better format is the SACD or DSD files.
The best price to audio quality is on the turntable side but CD is better in general quality because of its durability. Turntables are expensive in usage, degrade the sound every time you use it (skratches, dirt, head usage). Files still require superb application to be better than CDs but once you have it they are better as turntable with this advantage they do not get old. What is interesting in DSD files is tha they soind better then CD even on mid class equipment but... how much DSDs you have? As regards Tidal, Qobuz I am a bit dossapointed. They sound nice but has no this expression that CD offer. MPQ is definitelly better but loose with CD too. I suppose this is the reason of digital watermark, perhaps the streaming lags... 

So... the winner is: not CD :) but ripped CDs played from files. In therm of comfort, quality and durability this is the best choice. 
Thank you!

I wouldn't do either. I was in the exact same position as you, and I purchased a Sony HAP S1 for $700 USD. It is a high res unit (100,000 freq range) with a hard drive and internet radio. It has a 500 gig hard drive that organizes your ripped  cds by song, artist, genre, album... It picks up world wide internet radio. There are no monthly fees. I ripped my cds as 24 bit hi res format and they are played back in that same format.  It includes Iheart radio and tunein radio (low res). I was listening to music from Brazil last week.  My opinion is after paying months and months of streaming services, you are left with nothing. 

I just picked up the Bluesound Vault 2i which not only gives you streaming but also has a CD ripper and a 2TB onboard storage.  It does not however, play CD's, rather allows you to save your CD's in a FLAC format and then allows you to play the file through the Bluos app.  I think I read somewhere that it could store up to 30,000 songs and it also allows you to use other formats like WAV and MP3 among others.  This way, less wear and tear on your CD collection and gives you playlists of various CD's without getting up and changing discs.  Not sure yet on SQ between the FLAC file and playing the CD, but it's just an added convenience so you can listen to your CD collection and stream interchangeably.

With this said, this segment of the market is rapidly changing, but the Bluesound has a pretty good DAC at 32bit and 192Khz, but who knows what will happen next year.  I personally like streaming for it's convenience and introducing me to new titles and types of music.  I am going through the usual suspects of streaming services and listening to the SQ of their Hi Res offerings, so can't make a call on that just yet.  But the Vault seems to fill the bill straddling between streaming and CD's.  Next would be the Roon Nucleus system to organize all of my files and to handle various streaming networks should I sign up for more than one service.  Good luck with your search.    

I’ll throw my $.02 in here.  First - I agree w/ Duckworp in that Classical music streaming leaves something to be desired from a search standpoint.  However, this is easily enough overcome.  I listen to a lot of classical music and the ability to listen to many different recordings is really nice via streaming.  I’m discovering lots of recordings I wouldn’t have otherwise purchased.  You can easily search by composer or orchestra (artist).  And, you can rip your library to a hard drive to make it easily accessible (and searchable via the software). 

I would also suggest that streaming can be as good as CD/SACD played on a good player - if you have that goal.  I have a good streamer (Auralic Aries G2 - not the best, but well above the mid range) going into a good (but not great) DAC and it’s better than my CD/SACD player (also mid range).  I also have an Aurender server/streamer in another system - It’s also very, very good and better than my CD player.  Both are significant upgrades sound wise over the Bluesound Node 2 (a killer streamer for the price which I have in yet another system) from a streaming sound quality standpoint.  I actually like the Bluesound app the best out of all interestingly enough.  In any case, convenience, a nearly unlimited library and no physical media to store or search through are pretty compelling.  

To the OP, you can get a very good player/DAC if you want.  T+A, Simaudio, Esoteric, Marantz, etc.  all make such units which are very good.  

For me, I no longer play discs (despite a decent library of SACDs).  I have subscriptions to Qobuz (better sounding than Tidal at full resolution, but no MQA - hopefully soon), Tidal and Spotify premium.  Yes, I spend a fair amount monthly, but if it’s been recorded, I probably have access to it.  And, those services all have curated playlists for casual listening as well.  Spotify is much, much better than the other two in this regard. Tidal is frustratingly oriented toward hip hop/R&B in this regard - a reflection of the owners).  

So, for me - I spent up on streamer/servers and really have no need/desire to search through my disc collection again.  And, I’m discovering a lot of new music. My adult children all enjoy sharing new music with me too.  It’s been a wonderful development.

Best,

For myself personally I have heard high end CD players from today and  my LINN IKEMI from 20 years ago surpass the sound of streaming. Even implementing a high end DAC there is something lost in the transfer. Hi resolution streaming on the other hand shows promise but you are limited to what is available in that format. I love record store scavenging. You can buy CD's for a buck, used vinyl is cheap, it's something to do. Plus there is the ritual of putting that needle down seeing that big record spin. Putting the CD in a drawer that glides. It's the physical touching of an expensive machine I like.