why expensive streamers

OP: What am I missing? Why are people spending 1000's on streamers?

Audiophile grade DAC's are all withing everyone's budget. If we all agree that the same digital file entering each DAC is well,,,identical. Then the DAC converts it and sends out its analog interpretation of that digital file. During this conversion, each  DAC's colosr and distort the signial in their own way based on the design and opinion of the engineer. The question becomes, do they sound better/worse or just different. Next, do you trust the opinions you get from others without knowing their ability to hear accurately, perfect pitch, and ideal audiophile approved DNA. Add to this each persons equipment and speakers. My rule of thumb is that to spend more that 10% of your system's budget on a DAC's will deprive you of achieving your "ideal system". Enjoy the music!!!

Google the plethora of info about jitter and noise that been available for many years now.  

Next time, I suggest doing a search for this topic rather than starting the 2,134,568th thread on the same topic with the same reponses.

+1 @herman

it a bit fatiguing repeating again and again. Short answer the data rides on an analog stream that’s subject to picking up noise, and minimizing jitter (timing differences)

You go to Munich and visit the $1M rooms for the oligarchs and what do you see for streamers?

Mostly Aurender at around $25K, not saying Aurender is the best, I'm just saying $25K is the benchmark ie at that end of the market streamers are seen as important in the chain.

Even in the $150K system rooms the streamers are minimum $10K, so yeah manufacturers are telling you when they are demoing their gear, be they speaker or amp manufacturers, that streamers matter.

In my system I use the Lumin P1/L2 combo and yes the fiber optic I/O makes for a very easily heard sonic upgrade versus ethernet LAN.

Apropos don't let the "makes zero difference" crowd tell you otherwise.

You're not missing anything. This coming from a former software engineer with network experience. I think we're at a point where the last gasp of the marketeers is down to clocking (jitter), but as you point out the amount of information is not sufficient to cause a problem as jitter measurements are always way under the human capability to hear them. Marketing is a very powerful tool.