However there is a fundamental difference between something like a DAC-9 and a STREAM-9. The DAC-9 remains useful long after the manufacturer stops supporting it. The STREAM-9 is on borrowed time as soon as the firmware that makes it function is no longer maintained. If one of the streaming services it supports changes its API(changes the road) that service is no longer available unless the firmware is updated. Same for new services(new road).
The thing you're pointing out here is absolutely spot on. That is why companies like Roon came into existence, if the RAAT protocol won't change, and there's no reason to, the Roon Ready equipment will be working for years. The downside is the price of the Roon ecosystem (unfortunately, they don't offer a "lite" version without the music discovery and all the additional bells and whistles part which [may] carry the extra value they base their price off of).
Then there are open solutions like the UPnP and DLNA, which are rather awful by the original design; with the OpenHome extensions, they became bearable, as there are manufacturers relying on that technology and it apparently works for the local streaming from your own music server; but still for services like Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify, etc. you need to get the firmware upgrades to match the changes in their APIs. Which may make the streaming products obsolete at some point in time (unlike the DAC)
And there's also Logitech Media Server (LMS) which went from Logitech's hands into the open source realm, and there are people actively developing and maintaining that ecosytem, updating the plugins to match the changes in the streaming services. There is one HiFi manufacturer I know who based their streaming system on the LMS, plus the DIY community with Raspberry Pi and similar SBC boards.
And, finally, there are a few other attempts which didn't get much traction (DTS Play-Fi for example, Plex server tried to do something but didn't get much traction in HiFi, BluOS onboarded a few partners only...).
Overall, it's too bad that there is no, ideally open, server platform with a standard+open protocol, supported by the manufacturers to make sure it develops and keeps up to date with the streaming services. Imagine Roon being free as a "lite" version (which wouldn't even need such beefy hardware it requires today, the "lite" could run on a NAS or a RPi or a streaming-server equipment directly), or LMS being supported in that manner, or more manufacturers licensing the BluOS. Let's hope we'd get there at some point, that'd make the streamers life longevity comparable with the DACs