I asked
what would be the typical symptoms that the streamer function needs upgrade?
this is much debated, on Audiogon and elsewhere...
I come to this digital debate from analog. There, also, opinions have been very divided, maybe the only thing that matters is the correct vinyl record speed, the pitch stability, or also the weight and timbre of different platters, the function of tonearms, and so forth, not to speak of diamonds and cartridges. You can't really stop. There are hundreds of maybe-relevant variables. But you have to stop somewhere - what are the main things that matter, to get excellent vinyl record playback.
So - is there a main rule? If you have acceptably good streaming (no obvious problems with hires pcm or dsd), what is the benefit of investing in better streaming, compared to a better dac? Like 10 / 90 percent? 30 / 70?