Do I Really Need a Dedicated Streamer?

Streamers are networking computers optimized for audio.

It will stream the same digits as your tablet.  Most streamers will do it much better than your tablet.  In digital audio timing is crucial.  If the 1s and 0s arrive slightly out of sync (this is called jitter) than the sound can change quite significantly.  Most streamers will beat a tablet or a phone because the portable devices are jack of all trades and haven’t been optimized for sound 

If you want to free your iPad for other uses, you can build yourself a nice little streamer for $60-$70 all in. Get yourself a raspberry pie zero W2 computer board which costs about $15 and buy a case (you actually don’t need the case, it typically costs as much as the pi zero) and a wall wart power supply And then download Ropiee streaming software,which is free. You can stream to it via AirPlay and also it is a Roon end point. The electronics are very simple, it has just the basic computing power that you need for streaming. I have built a couple and find that they compare favorably with much more expensive streamers.
You may initially need to buy a few extra bits and bobs of adapter wires in order to download the software and transfer it to your pie zero, but that also gives you the option to explore other music streaming software. It is a cheap, fun little project that at the very least lets you use your iPad for more productive purposes.

Use my M1 MacBook Pro to usb input on dac…excellent sq…

I would suggest looking for a streamer that gives you a trial period to see if your system actually improves with a dedicated streamer or not. Then, your ears can decide.