Have you ever tried to catch a chicken?
Imagine someone throwing a floating candy in a stream of water, and then 1 mile downstream you pick the candy out of the stream
Read the link I posted previously from Antipodes
OK, so we have chicken, word salad from Antipodes, and candy. At least we won't go hungry. But the SQ remains the same. Digital logic, especially in IP networks, simply isn't amenable to analog logic, much less analog metaphors.
What can account for significant sonic differences despite being bit perfect has to do with the timing of the data stream as well as embedded noise and jitter.
This *could* apply to the digital transmission of data from a computer or other digital device via USB to a DAC, which is a kind of a stream. Technology has addressed it a long time ago, but theoretically at least your concern above could apply.
Doesn't apply to IP networks. The packets are reassembled, anything missing is requested and reintegrated, before that info goes anywhere. The buffer assures there is sufficient data for continuous music. If that failed, you'd hear a dropout, not less depth and bloom.