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

Even though I do a lot of streaming, it is NOT part of the argument that you have to give up any other format.  Like others have noted, I have many albums in my local collection that are not available on streaming and never will be -- for example, the ones that weren't commercially available releases. (I spent several years transferring a hundreds of LPs and open reels to digital.)

My system integrates my local collection and my Qobuz account seamlessly -- no problem to play one song or album from my local music and the next one from Qobuz. 

So, suggesting that going to online streaming requires one to discard your existing collection makes no more sense that saying back in the 1970s that you couldn't listen to FM or cassettes if you had a turntable.  If I like the music, I'll take it in any form I can get it.

“Another sticking point is that streaming is dependent on hardware & software that, in my experience, just seems to go bad every so often, often without warning. ”
@edcyn

You been around here long enough to know consumer grade laptops are not the best way to stream music. A modest investment in a dedicated streamer like Node will give much more robust streaming hardware and app interface. And no one is saying you need to ditch the physical media playback, if you choose to stream music :-)

@malibu457 In my estimation implementation of greatly improved ADC in recording studios was responsible for much of digital SQ improvement. For streaming , lossless services.

I've never had a single long term failure with streaming, user error has been occasional issue with custom path I've taken, Plug n play is pretty foolproof these days, needn't be reason for avoiding streaming.

i am also referring to recording decades old, back in the analog days...they sound so much better now either as digital playback or streamed. i would love to read a history of the last four decades of the parallel milestones in both the recording and playback chain. make for a good article for the big magazines and start from the 70’s. what where the breakthrough players and the pioneers behind them. step by step. chip design, implementation, PSU, development of architecture and approaches. a complete holistic survey of the last 50 years of digitals evolution.

Spotify family lo res for research and on the move and then if I love something I get on CD or vinyl (both comparable in quality on my system luckily)

Has cut down purchases for sure ... Some stuff I listen to on training runs ornturbo I would never buy HaHa it's a pace speed thing