This strikes me as the right answer. Put it in a big box with a touch screen and use it directly, or use it as a server with a rpi or tablet as the player.
When I was little, we went on vacation in the Bahamas. There was a huge roach in the shower, so I picked up my brother's shoe and threw it at it. I missed, of course, but the roach ran right into the shoe to hide -- problem solved.
Yours as well as our situation was wide open with no kids, and property values are such in Hartford that we can afford something here that we could not even dream about in most other places. But I do think that details can often be changed to meet specific needs while the soul of a house is what it is.
I wholeheartedly disagree with this. Nothing will ever match a check list completely so you'll always be disappointed, and no list is ever complete. Too much choice will drive you crazy. Our house is as unlike what we were looking for as can be, and we love it more everyday. Buy the place you walk into and just have to live in.
Shelly has a DAC that was originally built as a one-off complement to one of the acrylic Black Diamonds, but has been subsequently separated from its pair. It uses a WM8741 DAC with DSHA style buffers and 1:1 nickel core output transformers.