Why Purchase A CD Player or Transport ?

My streaming now sounds better than playing CDs.  The only reason I keep my transport around is to play stuff that isn’t available to stream. 

Are there a substantial number of well recorded performances recorded on CD which can’t be found via streaming services, or where the streaming version is sonically inferior to the CD?

No, but the ones that I have — probably around 20 CDs or so — are quite special and I need to have a way to play them. 

One thing overlooked is all the time, money, blood, sweat and tears it can take to assemble a fine streaming set up. Mastering that, how could anyone say it's not as good as playing a CD?

All I did was add the iFi Zen Stream (with upgraded power supply), linked it to my WiFi and that’s all it took.  As others said, it doesn’t need to be that hard at all. 

I might move to the AirLens from the iFi Zen Stream 

@vonhelmholtz Just curious if you’re using the upgraded iFi power supply for the Zen?

@sbank That’s an excellent idea that I will definitely pursue at some point. 

but I have a hard time seeing a commensurate increase in sound quality from a good DAC/streaming setup to a $5k CD setup.  

@tylermunns I did too until I actually got my dedicated streamer up and running.  My streaming quality now far surpasses that of playing CDs.  Not even close.