Jump in now or wait?

Herman - what you need to understand is that the transport protocol that is used for streaming audio over USB is different than that used for printers and disk drives over USB. There is no retry and no error correction for streaming audio. Because streaming audio is real-time and these other peripherals are not, it uses an entirely different protocol. In fact there are actually several different isochronous USB protocols that can be used for audio streaming, all without retry or error detection/correction.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I went from CD to PC-based music a while ago. I used a chaintech 7.1 soundcard (optical output) to a beresford tc-7510 dac, for the whopping grand total of 200$ including shipping, and I will never go back.
After hearing the beresford up against the Benchmark USB DAC1, I am glad I didn't spend the extra 1000$, because it is an extremely close comparison soundwise, although the benchmark obviously wins out in flexibility.
IMO the Beresford DAC is one of the best kept secrets in digital, and suffers from his basic looking case, and not charging enough money for it.
Byron
p.s.- I use EAC to get to FLAC and playback is done with FooBar 2000...

Wait. Two issues need time. First, internet cost metering is nearing. So what was free, will cost. You know like the old telephone company/cell business models, flat fee will go away. Second, Blu-Ray should be the new high end audio only format. I've just listened to the Divertimenti Audio Blue ray and it's accompanying SACD and was blown away by the real improvement in sound of the Blu Ray vs the SACD. Since Sony has already mastered on SACD the classics from its library, e. g. Miles/Blue, you can expect a large reissue on Blu Ray. BTW, the Blu Ray deck I used was the PS3, and the sound could not be better. So, when will the first high end Blu Ray appear?

I would jump in now, but I would consider the MHDT Labs Paradisea + DAC instead. Sold factory direct through Ebay only, as well as seen here used occasionaly. I replaced my 3500 Wavelength Cosecant with the Paradisea + and was thrilled with IMPROVEMENTS. The Paradisea + sells for 600. I am still amazed at how good it sounds for the price. I've had some very expensive CD players over the years and to date this is my favorite sounding digital I've heard.

I bought an IMac 24 inch w 500 GB harddrive, feeding an Apogee Duet via Firewire. The Apogee outputs to a Woo Audio 6 Modded headphone amp, then to a pair of AKG 701's.

I found the output exceptionally good- and I'm used to an Exemplar CD player, which is no slouch.

I used a PC for 15 years, and still do for business, but after experimenting with both formats, I chose MAC for music.

No matter which way you go however there are many great options and lots of fun to be had!