Streaming

great post! great way to test streaming...

I'll add to brunomarcs suggestion. I was going to say something similar but he beat me to it.

First, check to see if your CD player has a digital input for accessing the DAC. It is most likely an RCA (coax) digital input or a optical input called a Toslink. If it actually has a USB input you are golden. If it has any of these you are off to a good start. The reason why this is important is that the DAC in your CD player will be much better than the DAC in your computer or phone. By hooking your laptop up to your CD player you avoid the computer's DAC and are able to do the D/A conversion in your CD player.

Second, odds are you have a laptop sitting around. If so, check to see what type of outputs it has. It certainly has USB but higher end laptops sometimes have a digital out. If it has only USB and your CD player doesn't have a USB input then you will need a gizmo that will convert USB to optical or coax. You can get a Douk Audio U2 XMOS XU208 Digital Interface on Amazon for $55. You will also need to order a Toslink or digital coaxial cable depending on which one you use.

Next, I would suggest a trial subscription to Qobuz. It will have more music than you can ever listen to and it's high quality. It's only about $12/month if you pay for a year at a time. You are now streaming.

Lots of audiophiles swear by expensive dedicated streamers but my laptop setup sounds indistinguishable from the CD of the same title vs. Qobuz. I don't expect streaming to sound any better than playing a CD through $8k worth of transport and DAC (PS Audio PerfectWave MK II DAC and Transport).

My last comment (sorry for the long post) is that I may be waaaay younger than you (I'm 67) but I'm in a similar situation . I run Thiel CS6 speakers with a big Krell amp and I have over 4000 CDs and a thousand vinyl records. Even though I have more titles than I can listen to I love having Qobuz. I'm always on the hunt for new interesting music, some of which may be decades old and I somehow missed it, and now I can just call it up and listen to it at CD quality. It's wonderful.

Streaming can bring you, via the internet, virtually all the music in the world (as long as it's been digitized and made public). This in my opinion is its biggest advantage. Opinions vary about its sound quality compared to analog (vinyl, RTR).

If you own a smart phone and headphones, then you already have a streaming platform of sorts. Subscribe to a streaming service (Tidal/Qobuz/AppleMusic/other) then download the supporting app to your phone. This is the way millions of teenagers and young adults listen to streaming music. I prefer to listen through my main stereo rig, but a smartphone and cans provide a good way to dip your toes in the stream.

If you  decide you'd rather listen though your main HiFi system, then in my opinion, a Blue Sound Node (~$600 US) is a relatively simple and low-cost way to get started (via a USB/Coax/Toslink or analog RCA connection to the HiFi rig, plus application software you run on a smartphone/laptop/desktop/tablet).

I'm just curious, what model RTR's do you have?

The way you guys are helping guiding these older folks into streaming is simply awesome. I am only 68.