Is the DAC the digital equivalent of a cartridge.

The phono stage just takes takes the information from the cartridge and amplifies it to line level; however, the DAC actually is in charge of decoding/converting/ reading the digital information that is fed into it.  The DAC does no amplifying to the signal as far as I know.  

I know all carts have a different sound, and the range of is crazy.  Carts have a huge effect on the sound, I just want to know if the DAC has as big an effect as a cart  

Sorry, the phono stage does not decode anything, all it does is boost/amplify the small electric signal given to it by the cartridge. No way is a DAC anything like a phono stage, there’s no boosting or amplifying in a standalone DAC.

If you feed a DAC a good digital signal: streaming, cd, files, etc.. it should behave exactly like cartridge does as it is fed the grooves of a record, except digital signals don''t need to be boosted because they already line level.  

Sorry, the phono stage does not decode anything

wrong. ever heard of the RIAA equalization curve? what do you suppose it does?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization

some phono stages have multiple output curves besides RIAA for optimizing various early pressings. but your records would sound like crap without any output ’decoding’ circuit. lp groove cutting realities and playback technology realities require this equalization to work.

there’s no boosting or amplifying in a standalone DAC

wrong again. the only way a dac does not have an analog output stage to amplify the dac output is if the dac chips develop enough voltage on their own (very rare) or the dac is feeding an amp inside an active speaker system (very rare). dac chips rarely develop sufficient voltage to raise the signal to line level to feed the preamp. that is what the analog output stage circuit inside the dac does.

maybe the dac in your phone might develop enough gain to power your ear buds, as everything is miniaturized. but likely it has an output stage of some sort too. but it’s a special case.

The question asked by the poster is if a DAC has have "the same influence on the sound because it's as close to the source as the cartridge is?". What makes the question problematic is that a cartridge's signal has to be amplified and equalised to bring it to line level so any meaningful comparison is between a cartridge/phonostage and a DAC. As a related comment, I don't really buy the "closest to the source" argument. Back in the day, when Linn were preaching this, people were spending big money on an LP12 with an Ittok, sticking a vile K9 cartridge on it (having spent all their budget on the turntable and arm) and getting dreadful sound for the investment involved. Hi-Fi systems are exactly that - systems - so the relationship between the parts is critical.

in your analogy:

1. stylus = dac

2. cartridge innards = over-clocking; up-scale; anti-jitter; filters; the mix of all the other things that are happening to the 1s and 0s.

3. critical arm/cartridge alignments =  not required: a great appeal of digital to many