Why are so many people spending so much money to build “perfect” streaming system?

Streaming can be inexpensive and uncomplicated.  Plug a pair of headphones into your phone and chose the streaming service which best fits your needs. (they all have free trials) Simple right?  Purchase a headphone to RCA Y cable and hook it up to your stereo.  Not really that more complicated.  

The reason people spend so much on their streaming system is because everything matters.  Honestly your phone to your stereo sounds pretty good but if you don't want to  deal with the long cable strung across your room you'll need a device that you can control with your phone and so it begins.  What makes it seem complicated is there are so many inexpensive options.  Getting rid of the cable can be done for under $100 but while sounding good you won't be able to compete with audiophile components, if that's important to you.

Other users here have streaming setups that compete with expensive analog components.  The draw of access to almost any recording ever produced as a high quality source actually makes their streaming system very inexpensive compared to the cost of the hard media they would have to own, store, maintain and catalog so they could find it.

I really wish there was a perfect streaming system but everything has some sort of compromise.  I believe that streaming is worth the investment of not only dollars but the time and research required to determine what matters to me. I have a lot more time invested than dollars and drawers full of equipment I learned from to get me to my current imperfect system.

Complicated and expensive

Really, compared to LP playback? That involves cartridge, arm, table, pre-preamp, preamp, and so on? Alignment, leveling, VTA adjustment, un-warping, record cleaning, stabilizing, avoidance of feedback from mechanical vibration, and $6000 if you want to rid the system of wow due to eccentricity.

But people love it, and that’s great . . . all part of the audio world.

By comparison, streaming is cheap and easy. And as others have said, it opens to you a vast library of music you might not hear any other way.

Ditto the cost shouldn't be a factor in getting into the streaming game. 

When I told my son it was going to cost about $1300 to repair my Acurus ACD11 CD player, he asked why I wanted to listen to CD's. So my question was what was he listening to. His answer was "I'm streaming". He was using Tidal and a Node. So I stopped the Acurus repair, bought a Node 2i for about $400 and plugged it it straight into my McCormack DNA 0.5 power amp, bypassing my preamp because it to needed to be repaired, more $$. And with the Tidal family subscription I immediately was getting great sounds. By digitizing all my CD's and storing them on my NAS, my entire local library was even more accessible. And the Node gave me remote volume control which I didn't have with my preamp.

Gradually one can slowly upgrade. First, eventually, I moved to an external DAC, an inexpensive SMSL SU-9, about $500 and worth it.Then a year later I switched the Node over to a Linear Power Supply, added an audio network switch and better quality DC and Ethernet cabling. Over time this doesn't add huge amounts of money and gets quality that could cost much more. And, lastly, Roon and an Intel NUC Core is an incredible addition. I can access everything Tidal had as well as ll my digitized CD's on my NAS. (And all this is available anywhere, like my car, with the Roon Arc iPhone app). Can't tell you all the new music I've discovered; it's an incredible doorway to things you'd never discover otherwise. So over the last 3 years I've spent less than $2K and with the Node alone less than $500. The best moves I've made to my Sound system and dramatically increased my listening time and pleasure!! Start slowly, as much as the budget will allow and see for yourself. If it's not for you, you won't have invested much.

About a half hour ago I felt the urge to hear Beethoven's Second Symphony.  True, I have a handful of performances on my LP and CD shelves, but I decided to try a performance I've never heard before.  I went to Idagio and impulsively cued up a performance by the .Staatskapelle Dresden conducted Herbert Blomstedt.  Not quite as fine a string tone as I have on a couple of my performances on vinyl, but an enjoyable, well-played, emotionally committed reading. I'm a happy guy.

@dmader48

Thanks for sharing your inspiring journey from conventional playback to streaming. Anything is possible when you keep an open mind!