What to do with my legacy CD collection?


I am about to dive head first into Hi-Res Digital Audio streaming.  My current situation is complex, though.

I have 6,000 cds in my collection.  I am beginning a project to rip my favorites ~ 2,000 cds, which are mostly special editions, rare and collectible, to FLAC files and play them on my Innuos Zenith mk3 server and Qutest Dac using an ipad and Innuos Sense app as my UI.  

The whole rig will be backed up to a  2 drive Synology Nas using RAID 1 plus an icloud back-up.  

I will keep these as many are Mofi Gold, DCC gold, SACDs, DVD-Audio Disks in 5.1 surround, HDCD encoded, etc., to occaisionally play them on my Oppo 105 universal player where they sound marvelous.

That leaves me with 4,000 CDs leftover.  Most of them can be Hi-Res streamed via Quobuz or Tidal, both of which are native to my Innuos server.

Some of these are in original jewel cases (about 1,500) that I will sort through and keep, sell (haha), donate or toss.  

The remaing 2,500 are in binders without artwork.  I really don't know what to do with this group: keep as back-ups or toss.  Any suggestions?

I would appreciate any opinions or feedback on my plan, so far.

TIA!

Ag insider logo xs@2xdrlou77

@horchai - Fantastic suggestion. I’m with you. Be an early Santa and find an organization that could provide them to others who might appreciate them. Lots of great charities out there. 

So how do you like the Zenith?  Any tips for me before I fire it up?

I know this question was asked to a different poster, but allow me ...

I owned the Zenith MK3 up until very recently. For the money, I think this is one of the best streamers out there with great sound quality and features. Once you get around to it, try swapping the fuse with Synergistic Research Purple Quantum fuse. I was not a believer in fuses but boy did this fuse rock my world. I usually am not a fan of hyperbole when it comes to describing tweaks but this is one time when I make an exception to say that the increase in SQ was jaw dropping! The purple fuse is $200 with a 30-day return policy and fairly easy to swap.

Pre-Covid, I had two bookcases full of CDs in the garage, buried behind everything else.  I rarely listened to them.  Ripped them all to the hard drive of a dedicated laptop that streams to my stereo.  Now I listen to them all the time.  I just hit shuffle and go..."I don't remember this."  I use Roon to organize them.  

When I took them to local used CD stores, they bought (credit to buy more) maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of them.  The rest I gave to a friend.  Probably still in the back of his truck.   

I will purchase your Cds not SACD's for 50 cents each.  I am a seller and buyer.  So if interested in selling them by all means contact me.  Thank you.

I really like the Zenith also. I think it took 1 miute to plug in .Another minute to download app. Connected right up and I was good to go. Ran it through a good DAC and i can almost forget vinyl. will try a fuse for my next upgrade.