Good luck finding a comprehensive guide. There seems to be no standard way to do this.
I'll weigh in here with what are probably contrary opinions on this forum but have worked well for me.
First off, unless you cannot propagate a wireless signal due to interference in your house there is no need for wiring. High res audio (like FLAC) is actually low bandwith so a wireless N or AC router will handle the load with ease. Even with interference you may be able to solve the problem with repeaters. I have a very large 3 story house and my N router works just fine even where the signal is less than ideal (since you do not require much bandwidth)
Secondly a NAS based music server can be set up very cheaply. Currently I am using a 3TB WD MyCloud NAS device that comes pre loaded with Twonky (a DNLA server) for serving up music. This can be bought on Amazon for $150. It will serve up FLAC or lossless AAC (if you use iTunes this is equivalent to FLAC). You can even host your itunes on the NAS. There is no reason to spend a ton of money on something to dish up bits on the network. Prior to this I had a dedicated computer, the NAS is cheaper and uses less power. The NAS does need to be wired to your router.
Now you will need a device to play your streamed music. Here is where it starts to get tricky and you can wind up spending as much money as you have. As another poster has mentioned you could go with a SONOS system. However you have to live with it's limitations. In particular it does not support 96 or 192khz audio (although there is a good argument that there is no difference above 44.1 hz anyway). My solution was to buy an inexpensive streaming device that handles hi res audio with digital outputs (I use a Grace Digital GDI-IRDT200 Hi-Fi Internet Radio Tuner - $189 on Amazon). I have this device directly feed either a DAC or a digital amplifier. I chose to spend my money on the DAC and the Amp.
I have this setup in 2 rooms and could not be happier.
I'll weigh in here with what are probably contrary opinions on this forum but have worked well for me.
First off, unless you cannot propagate a wireless signal due to interference in your house there is no need for wiring. High res audio (like FLAC) is actually low bandwith so a wireless N or AC router will handle the load with ease. Even with interference you may be able to solve the problem with repeaters. I have a very large 3 story house and my N router works just fine even where the signal is less than ideal (since you do not require much bandwidth)
Secondly a NAS based music server can be set up very cheaply. Currently I am using a 3TB WD MyCloud NAS device that comes pre loaded with Twonky (a DNLA server) for serving up music. This can be bought on Amazon for $150. It will serve up FLAC or lossless AAC (if you use iTunes this is equivalent to FLAC). You can even host your itunes on the NAS. There is no reason to spend a ton of money on something to dish up bits on the network. Prior to this I had a dedicated computer, the NAS is cheaper and uses less power. The NAS does need to be wired to your router.
Now you will need a device to play your streamed music. Here is where it starts to get tricky and you can wind up spending as much money as you have. As another poster has mentioned you could go with a SONOS system. However you have to live with it's limitations. In particular it does not support 96 or 192khz audio (although there is a good argument that there is no difference above 44.1 hz anyway). My solution was to buy an inexpensive streaming device that handles hi res audio with digital outputs (I use a Grace Digital GDI-IRDT200 Hi-Fi Internet Radio Tuner - $189 on Amazon). I have this device directly feed either a DAC or a digital amplifier. I chose to spend my money on the DAC and the Amp.
I have this setup in 2 rooms and could not be happier.