Streamers - Can any host files?

FWIW, I used external SS and HD drives for years, bought an Aurender N200 and took advantage of the internal SS storage ability. The improvement in SQ was immediate and  startling. Now the ext drives are for backup insurance. 

I bought a Wiim Ultra.  You can attached a usb drive and run files off of it.  Very easy to use, great software, i use mine with an external DAC but the built in one is decent.  Around $329 but often on sale.

As others have suggested, you can hang a HD off the back of a streamer to access your ripped music. Another approach, if you have wifi (And who doesn't anymore?) is to hang your HD off the back of your router. Then you can have your streamer "find" your files that way. 

An advantage to this is that you can rip CDs and copy them to the HD via wifi and keep your library up to date. Additionally by using this method your files will be available to any other devices on your network. 

Happy listening.

The Eversolo DMP-A6 (click here) has an internal M.2 SSD slot for expandable storage. 

Do you need a DAC in the streamer?  If not the Eversolo T8 is a great buy, it has two slots for SSDs.  It also supports a huge array of streaming services and can rip CDs by adding an external USB drive.

FWIW the Vault's DAC does not have great reviews, but is fine for streaming and ripping.

If you have a good LAN the idea of using NAS has merit as it eases upgrades.  I recently swapped an Aurender N100 SC for the Eversolo T8.  Copying my files took a long time.