If you had to start all over again in this day and age

Ok, so back to my original question. As I am "chicken and ignorant" to get into streaming, for those who have listened to both: how does a streamed delivery compare with a "burned cd"? 

I have the Arc CD-8 and it's darned good or I should say "I like it".

arro222 OP

  ... how does a streamed delivery compare with a "burned cd"?

As with so many things in audio: It depends. However, a high quality hi-res stream can better the CD equivalent. CD can't match the potential of something like Qobuz.

arro222, I think that the DAC has a much greater effect on the sound than the streamer. If your CD-8 has a digital in you can plug your streamer into it. I think streaming will sound as good as a manufactured cd. The DAC in the Node 2i probably isn’t as good as your CD-8, but it’s not too bad.

Does your DAC only work at 16/44.1 or does it do high-res? Many albums on Tidal or Qobuz are available in high-res and may sound better than a cd, not always the case, but it does happen.

Get started with a Node 2i and I’m pretty sure you’ll be happy with streaming. If you want to try something better later you can move the Node 2i on with minimal loss. I think you’ll enjoy it.

The real benefit of streaming is that you can find so many albums that sound great that you probably never would have heard without streaming. If you like to discover new music or hear music you just never got around to buying, streaming is like being a kid in a candy store, to me anyway. They won’t have everything you want, but they’ll have most of it.

On streaming, tech wise it’s really painless. Of course you need internet access. Ethernet cables access to your modem is best, but some streamers like the Bluesound will also work over WiFi. 
The three streamer dacs that I currently use are the aforementioned Bluesound in my budget office system, Cambridge 851n in my secondary system and Teac NT-505 in my main system. 
There are big sound quality performance increases at each of those steps. The Teac is still relatively affordable at $2k and sounds amazing, but it requires Ethernet (no WiFi ). 
The Bluesound is the easiest to use and has the best user interface app of the three, but it’s dac is wanting IMO. Ymmv

Please excuse my dumbness but this is all new to me. So I need a streamer. I either have to get one with wifi or wired directly to my modem right?
Now I attach this streamer to my cd player dac with what type connectives? ("digital in" means hdmi?)

Why does the streamer have to be quality if it seems to be only a conduit? I just saw a streamer with dac for $23,000.

Also, I have to pay a monthly fee to join up with a provider like Apple music? What’s "tidal"?

My word. My questions are like "what spark plugs should I use" Sorry.