Building a music server has literally breathed new life into my enjoyment of music. For me, this is more about the music than the equipment. In other words, I won't argue about which methodology sounds better. All I know is that I now listen to my music EVERY night. I don't even consider turning on the TV. I'm not even into my music DVD concerts as much as I used to be. I turn off the lights and sit in my chair with access to more than 5,000 songs from my library. I can listen to any song in any order. I have been listening to songs and albums that I haven't listened to in years. I can select the "jewels" from old CDs that Ive nearly forgotten about and play them along side my brand new tunes. This is absolutely the coolest thing I've done with my music. Building a music server/library has been great fun too. It takes a while, and Im not nearly finished ripping my CDs, but it is a process that, like tweaking, allows a physical interface with the music. I haven't even mentioned the possibilities of internet radio .
Once you set up your server, you'll know what I mean. You should definitely strive for the highest fidelity possible though. Use good ripping software (I still recommend EAC), rip in lossless (I recommend .flac), utilize a good DAC if you can swing it, and also use a really good digital cable between the DAC and Squeezebox.