Digital Audio for Dummies


As I have stated before, I'm a bit of an audio dinosaur.  I love simple.  I love reliable.  I love a high performance/price ratio.  So no surprise I'm still happily spinning discs.  Give me a nice CD player direct to an integrated and I'm good to go.

But it is 2018.  Reading on this forum about the demise of Oppo was a bit of a wake up call. Also the Lyngdorf 2170 has inspired me.  An elegant all in one box product that is ready to connect with many of the digital options now available.  So I'd like to get educated on what's out there and what you suggest.  Basically I would want to know about ripping all my CD's--exactly how that is done.  Dedicated audio computer?  How big of a hard drive/other considerations?  Wired vs. wireless.  And then what streaming services are out there?  Cost, quality, ease of use?

PLEASE keep things simple and don't assume the reader knows, for example, what Roon is.  I've seen it mentioned, but would want to know exactly what this does, how it functions, etc.

THANKS!
corelli
You sound like me. I bought SONY HAP-Z1 ES more than two years ago. It feels like just another piece of gear in the old-school way, but works for what you need it for. Sound is great, plays whatever you throw in it, I believe. Simple to operate, but there is a glitch or two initially. Once the music is on it, you operate it as some sort of a CD player with many many songs on one CD. Every now and then, I check out other brands with similar products and none of them seems that simple in the long run. No NAS, no fancy protocols. Just a music storage and Internet radio (don't dismiss it just yet) in a box that would not look as overly futuristic in your 1970s-1980s system. And to repeat, it does sound great. 21st century great. Hits way way above the price.
I forgot to add, in case you do decide on SONY HAP-Z1 ES, feel free to ask for details about ripping, etc. It would not make sense to go into it now, but offer stands.
I would keep away from the Vault specifically because of the Node 2 the Vault is built around. The Node at one time was the “cats meow” but it has not kept up with the competition.  There are superior products on the market for the same price. Check out What HiFi reviews. Just my opinion
The Sony is $800.00 more than the Bluesound plus you then need to buy a PC to copy your cd collection.  It is certainly not as simple to setup as the Bluesound and is considerably more expensive.  That may not matter to some, but was important to me.  I would rather play music than play with computers.
I dont want to go off topic from the op but I have a similar question.
I have a dac.  I have ripped all of my cds in FLAC form to a laptop.  I want to stream those music files from my laptop to my DAC via my wifi.  I bought a chromecast but cannot get the right apps to do this.  Any help would be appreciated.