The streamer is the closest thing and equivalent to the turntable. DAC = Phonostage. The sound relationships are pretty much analogous as source and first stage processing, with the addional point being if you don’t get it right at the source it is not going to get better. In upgrading and learning about digital since the advent of the CD, it has become more obvious how analogous they are… particularly now that high end digital can compete with analog.
My analog and digital ends have outstanding and very very similar sound quality. The cost breakdown (and I did not just arbitrarily throw money at it )
Streamer $22K - DAC $17K
Turntable $20K - phonostage $17K
I assure you that if the streamer value was halved the sound quality to ~$10K, the digital end sound quality falls precipitously. I have tried it. Also I increased the DAC cost from $17K to $22K and got virtually identical results. Of course you cannot abstract this to all systems… but I have done a lot of work to minimize the cost of each of my components and get the most sound quality.
There has been and continues to be a strong intellectual attraction to thinking bits are bits and the streamer can’t matter. I was seduced for a very long time by that concept although my 50 year history showed me over and over again never to let that be your guide… listen to the sound. What can I say, logic can get in the way.