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

Arro,

order a Raspberry Pi4, either 2gb or 4gb, from any number of resellers. This is a small computer board that is amazingly versatile. $35-$55. Order a dac hat for the raspberry- I bought hifiberry dac plus DSP- approx $65 from Hifiberry. You could also consider one from Allo. Either will plug into the top of the Raspberry board. Get an 8gb micro sd card and burn the Volumio software (download from Volumio) or buy an sd card with Volumio already on it. You can use a power supply from your phone or iPad for the raspberry pi board. Hook the rca output of the Dac board to input of preamp or receiver. Download the volumio app on your pad or cell, stick the volumio loaded card in the pi, power it up, and select the volumio hotspot on your cell ( when you first turn on the raspberry it will be broadcasting a WiFi hotspot). Follow the directions in the app and pick the dac hat you chose- either the hifiberry or Allo- whichever one you end up purchasing. Click on sources and choose Tidal, pandora, Spotify or whatever music source you have and you are enjoying music. $100-$150 depending on dac you choose and any case and you have a first rate streamer. I added a screen and it looks like a squeezebox that was once available. If you want to tackle it let me know and I can assist. Took me a bit to figure out the software part but in retrospect it was my ignorance that was causing the problem. Great having thousands of songs in HD at my fingertips. Best of luck. 

By the way, I am not overly savvy with technology, but I am fearless in tackling the unknown 😉

I started my in home audio journey back in mid 70s with basic Pioneer and Denon Electronics and BIC speakers; quickly moving up to other electronic ie. Harman/Kardon, Tandberg, Nakamichi and Thorns and speakers ie. Klipch, Mission and Vandersteen. By mid 80s I fell in love with the Quad ESL 63s and even though I experimented with a lot of other speakers over the years, the Quads was my main stay speakers for over 20 years - powering them with PSE, Bryston and Krell. Following my work and moving into a considerably smaller living space, I had to sacrifice my Quads and hopes for getting a pr. of Apogee Duetta Sigs. for something considerably smaller.
Now, back in a larger living space with a dedicated audio room, my journey has started over. Following my love for stats and ribbons, I had chance to pick up a pr. of the little Maggie 1.7s and fell in love with their clean open sound. My goal now is to move up to a larger set of Maggies or, If I get the budget a pr. of the Sound Lab 545s or 645s, with an up grade in my CDP and phono cartridge. With hundreds of LPs and CDs, I have no interest in streaming.....Jim

ovinewar

Nice clear diy for streaming on a budget.  Saving it for other opportunities to assist others.  Thanks.  Liked your afterthought!  I have great respect for naysayers IF they have done the work and tried things.  

"We have nothing to fear...but fear itself...except stupid, we should be batshit fearful of stupid."

More Peace, Pin

Pinthift. I too was a musician being a professional trumpet player. I was a bit younger than your son when going professional. Nothing I’ve heard over the years has equaled what I heard in the 15 piece band but that’s ok.
My greatest claim to fame was to sit in when the Fifth Dimension came to town and their player got the stomach bug.
I envy your boy in his journey.

That aside, we opened our first audio salon in 1970. We graduated to 3 stores and I left in 2001 and remained a financial principal until 2008 when the last store closed.
If I didn’t hear 10,000 combinations, I didn’t hear one. Krell, ARC, Wadia Garrad, Thorens, Jensen (an abomination of speakerdom but state of the art then) on and on.

With all that said, I am a babe in the wood with this digital stuff and amazed at the movement in tech it has wrought.

I am not against anything new but I admit I am a slow mover toward anything "new" partly because I exist in the comfort realms of the past while toe stepping into the future. I had to do that as a store owner.
I question everything. I guess because of all the bs spiel I heard as a business owner from vendors, suppliers and audio "critics" from every dimensional plane.

Like a newborn fawn, I do suppose I need to get out in the world to the few remaining stores and listen "all over again".