What are My Options for Ripping My CD Collection ?

@devinplombier You did read the first line in the op post. I think you might help if you explained it like we’re 5yo.lol. 

Thanks everyone I appreciate your thoughts and comments. I'm pretty new to this digital end of audio and it can be a bit overwhelming.

@fastfreight thank you. I found the Mac Disk Drive that is highlighted in your post. But if I rip them to an external hard drive, how do I play them ? My Frerot DAC does not have a USB 2 in or out, and my amp and preamp have only RCA connections.

@evanpress may I ask which fast CD player your purchased ?  Can it also be used as a CD burner ?

@8th-note thank you for your post. What is a DAP ?

@devinplombier thank you. I'm sorry but I don't know what you are saying. I understand FLAC but not the other two terms in CAPS.

@gkelly yes most of this is like a foreign language to me.

To the many who suggest to get the Mk 3 and be done.... I am leaning that direction. I thought I was happy with my current Denon streamer but it is fiddly and so much so that I sometimes have to unplug it and re-connect to power to get it to obey commands from my iPhone again when using Tidal, where my WiiM Ultra is not fiddly with Tidal. And I will always wonder what a better streamer sounds like. The Innuos Sense App has a great reputation.  I have emailed Innuos support about possibly integrating the Mk 3 into my system and received help the same day which I feel is excellent. The only question I have is: their suggestion to connect Zen Mk 3 -> USB -> Frerot DAC -> RCA -> Pre amplifier. Is this correct ? My system:

Van Alstine SET 400 Amp

Van Alstine Transendance RB Tube Preamp

Merason Frerot DAC and Merason walwort power supply

Salk Veracity HT2-TL speakers

Any other thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Sorry about that @gkelly and @foamcutter 

A Network Attached Storage (NAS) is essentially a home server. It contains at least 2 hard disk drives (HDDs), usually more.

NAS can usually be configured as RAID arrays (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). What this means is that several physical disks act as one, and your data (music) is automatically and dynamically written in more than one location (there are several RAID levels that you probably don't want me to go into).

If a standalone HDD - like for instance those USB drives plugged in streamers that folks talk about - fails, your music is gone. Poof! And HDDs will fail, it's just a question of when.

On the other hand, if a HDD fails in a RAID, the data stored on it also exists on the other HDDs, so you haven't lost anything. The NAS will send you a text or an email to inform you of the failure. If your NAS supports hot-swapping (it should), you pop in a new HDD without even powering down, and the NAS will immediately start populating the new HDD and restore the array to its previous condition.

The only drawbacks are that only half the storage is effectively usable - for example, if you have 4x 2TB HDDs in your NAS, your effective capacity is not 8TB but 4TB (the other 4TB being used for backup).

As far as which NAS to get, there is Synology and there is the rest. Something like this machine will be more than enough for most audiophiles.

Nice system.  Yeah that’s right what Innuos said, and I’d add at your system’s level don’t skimp on the USB cable.  Minimum $200  something from DH Labs, Veritas, etc. and you should be good.  Oh, and you should look at upgrading the power supply to your DAC to a decent linear power supply.  Doesn’t need to be Mearason’s that’s prolly really pricey but something from Teddy Pardo, SBooster, LHY, etc. should get the job done and be around $400 for another meaningful upgrade FWIW. 

@devinplombier  thank you for the detailed explanation and the link.  I will look into that. Eventual failure is a scary thought with all the external hard drives I have filled with years of photos and videos.

@soix  thank you, it's taken me a few years to assemble this systembut I'm pretty happy with it...except the streamer.  I appreciate your thoughts and advice. I will research better cables and an LPS for the Merason DAC.

Cheers everyone. It's 5AM and I'm off to hopefully photograph the Comet in the eastern sky.