noob DAC question

"that's really the ticket - a 1000 CD changer equivalent at your fingertips."

I agree!!! Takes some time to get CDs ripped at first, but worth it. I rip all CDs straight to music server in loss-less format to play them when I get new ones. I may be coming up on 2000 overall by now.

In addition to excellent sound quality possible, you typically also get a lot of flexibility and usability features, like remote wireless network control via laptops, tablets or smartphones (no more device specific remotes), display of album art and other music related information, and one of my personal favorite features, the ability to let the server play tracks randomly, essentially making your own personalized "radio station" that only plays your music but not in an order that is anticipated, which helps provide another unique way to discover the gems in your library.

I am a fan of just having the music server on the electronically noisy general purpose computer and using a wireless connection from a physically remote player client device (which can also output to a standalone DAC if desired). This provides a lot of isolation and is excellent for keeping pesky and hard to predict PC noise artifacts out of teh story.

Sonos is one of the more popular solutions of this type out there at present, but there are many other devices out there that play music from a server via a network connection (wireless or wired)but are designed as a component to connect to a good hifi, like a traditional CD player.

THe main limitation with a wireless connection will be bandwidth. A strong connection will generally be needed. CUrrent common Wifi technology can easily handle CD resolution digital files I find with a decent to strong connection and no major competition from others on the network. The latest and greatest wifi devices, where availble are even better and better suited probably for hi resolution files/streams available today that might exceed resolution of Redbook CDs.