Looking for advice

@dgplo17 

I spent $30 on a usb cd drive and used dBpoweramp software which will make sure that your stored cd is bit perfect and it will pull down artwork.  No fancy all in one will do better.

@ghdprentice  brings experience whereas I offer my build based on searching out those with expertise.   Go back and look at the profiles of those offerng their opinion and then look at some of their other posts and you can determine who to trust.. By all means don't trust me.

Does the Bluesound node have digital input to use with the Cambridge transport?

I may be wrong but don't believe it does. Do you currently use a CD player? 

I had an old Naim 3.5 CD player with flat cap power supply.  It stopped working and is thrashed.  

I think your Zen Mini strategy makes a lot of sense, especially if you have to do this in stages.  There’s a Darko review from a couple years back where I think he compares the Zen Mini to the Node (both older models I think) and I believe he preferred the Zen Mini.  In any event, I’d take the Zen Mini over the Vault as it’s likely a better streamer, and the Innuos Sense software is apparently one of the better sounding out there.  FWIW. 

i would suggest buy the best Dac you can afford, many devices can be used to stream until you have the additional money to then buy a streamer that is sonicly compatible witht he dac producing  the sound you are after. in the digital world in my opinion the dac is the core piece.