Ten year old digital source upgrade suggestions?

After borrowing an Audioquest Forest USB-A to micro and re-ripping two CD's I noticed a slight overall improvement over the previously ripped CD's.

While the player still sounds better the USB cable swap was a scary wake up call that has me waffling all over the place. All for the better, lots to learn. Thank you all.

M 

Your weakest link is the USB cable. I can send you a long article on this; but check in with Used Cables.com. Be sure to get the right connectors on it. Shoot for a Wireworld Starlight Seven or equivalent. Don't get one much longer than you need. The "generic" one we use for computer printers are inadequate for music.

  My set up, with which I am very happy, is a Melco N100, and Melco D 100 for a ripper and CD transport.  The N100 feeds a SHM room correction device which uses Dirac Room Correction (the SHM also a streamer contained within, which I don’t use), and is connected to a Bryston DAC 3, which is a fantastic DAC.  My Oppo 105 Universal Disc player is also connected to the DAC via HDMI cable, and I use this to play SACD, since the Oppo can be programmed to output the DSD layer of SACD over HDMI, and I have a large Classical Music SACD collection.
  The Room Correction  and SACD may be a step to far for you at this point, so let’s drill down to ripper/streamer/DAC  issue for you.  A common solution for Audiophiles is the all in one Bluesound Vault.  I bought one years ago before I upgraded to Melco, and the Vault now resides in a HT system, which I am currently listening to as I type.  It costs around $1300.  It plays high resolution files.  It has a very good controlling App.  The weak points:1) not a perfect ripper-about the same level of error as the Apple 2) The DAC was not truly high end, although it is listenable and can be bypassedrecently upgraded the DAC, and I haven’t heard it, but people whose judgment I value say it isn’t that much of an improvement, and 3) Customer Service isn’t that good, and that is an issue that I am well acquainted with as it is prone to crashing and burning.
  The Melco N 100 can be used as a NAS (currently feeding my aforementioned Vault), but it is also a player and has an attached 2TB player.  I think it sounds amazing and works flawlessly.  Do you need the expensive Melco ripper?  No, but it’s accurate and also is superior to my Oppo as a CD transport.
  Other DACs that I have owned are PSAudio Digital Link III and Mytek Manhattan.  Both were excellent, but I really prefer the Bryston, which is great on detail but doesn’t sound overly Clinical and has the features (HDMI) that I want

It sounds like there is an issue with the rips.  It could be the Samsung, or (presumably iTunes) Apple software, or the interface between the two.  I don’t think is supporting iTunes, which is potentially another issue.
  There is software that improves iTunes and the accuracy of the rips.  You want accurate rips because presumably you may get rid of the CDs.  I mentioned dbPower Amp.  This program compares the quality of the data it’s reading to rips from other users.  It costs around $80.  I thought it gave audibly better rips than iTunes.  There is free software that others rate as equal called Exact Audio (I think-it’s been a few years) but there is advertising and I personally found it worked better with Windows than Macs.  Ymmv.  There may be others.
  I used The Apple  Optical reader for a few years. It made many errors with iTunes, a few with dbPowerAmp.  It did work a lot better than an expensive Bryston Optical Player which a total POS.

My Innuos Zen MkIII sounds better than my 25 year old Wadia transport that cost $8k - going into the same DAC.  Playing my CD’s.  Just a point of reference.

Thanks mahlar123. I apologize for my lack of knowledge.

So I connected the Samsung drive to the Mac and begin ripping assuming I'm using the Apple software. 
The CD's usually sound better and some of the ripped versions simply stop playing.

I was suspecting having to re-rip the collection just want to make the important additions before I do. Thanks again.

Everything does matter, and that definitely includes streamers.  That and you have lots of disparate pieces working to produce sound.  If I’m you I’d get an Innuos Zen Mk3 streamer with onboard drive and storage, load all your CDs into it and plug it into your DAC and enjoy all your music from one source and with better quality.  But that’s me — I like things simple.  Best of luck. 

I don’t know anything about the Samsung.  How do the rips sound to you?  Are there errors?  What are you ripping the discs to?  How do the rips compare to CD replay of the same disc?  Are you using a software package to enhance ripping capabilities such as dbPoweramp?  This matters a lot more to me than the cables
  DACs are personal choices.  Some people like X Ray Clarity DACs, other prefer them to roll off softer…Are there newer DACs than yours?  Sure.  Better?  Probably, but listen before you buy.  Digital evolves and changes fast, and in general, newer is better.

Is there a different method, component, or combination for a digital source that would provide noticeably better fidelity and or ease of use?

Was the Samsung a poor choice for ripping? If so any suggestions for replacement?

Are the Squeezebox Touch and the Metrum Acoustics DAC seriously out dated? Any suggestions for replacement?

What exactly is your question?