This topic is not new, it’s just in a different wrapper.
In the end, it’s all about the transport or transfer of info.
With Records and turntables, it was the cartridge.
With CDs, it was the transport.
With the first Mac servers, it was about the USB transfer (async, etc.).
today, it’s about the streamers.
same sh*t, new day.
1. With a DYI $50 solution, you get 85% there.
2. With a popular $500 solution, you get 90% there.
3. With integrated $2500 solutions, you get 92% there.
4. For every 1% from here out, you pay $1,000 each.
this hobby is sometimes about deciding and justifying price/performance thresholds and then determining if short or long term satisfaction has been attained.
the struggle is real...;-)