I'm thinking ahead here, but if the Kii Three delivers, I might soon be turning my back on my CD player and embracing computer audio. The main digital input option on the Kii speakers would seem to be an AES/EBU connection via xlr. Is this possible/advisable from a computer source?
I am in a similar boat, if the Kii Three sounds as good as it is supposed to.
Unless your CD player has a digital out with digital volume control, you might want to consider the following suggestion from Kii:
1. PC/MAC with Audirvana (or JPlay or similar) for instance that will control volume in the software - connection done with any third party USB/AES/SPDIF interface.
2. Streamer that has its own Volume control like the ARIES. No need for USB interface here - just direct digital connection via AES.
There are many USB/SPDIF converters out there but not many USB/AES ones. For option 1, the cost of the USB to AES converter will be a factor. The Berkeley Alpha USB converter is highly regarded but will cost similar to or more than the Kii remote (assuming that it is priced along the lines of the Grimm Audio remote), which will offer more functionality (rather similar to the Grimm Audio remote).
Once the Kii remote is out, it is unlikely that you be using the AES input on the Kii. Instead, it will probably be PC/MAC > USB cable > Kii Remote > Cat5/LAN cable > Kii Three Kiilink input. A streamer with USB output may also work in place of the PC/MAC but we will need to what further details Kii reveals about the remote.
Besides what Purite Audio has said above, I suspect that the Boundary and Contour functions can also be controlled via the PC/MAC.
A short term solution may be to get the Auralic ARIES or even the Lumin D1 (using a BNC/AES converter - US$50 +/-) until the Kii remote is out in Q1 2016 and sell the streamer. Or, go the PC/MAC route and sell the USB/AES converter later.