Clio,
here's my understanding: the clock inside the Mini is not great, and the output has a lot of jitter. This is true both for optical and USB.
If you choose an asynch USB DAC, then the clock that matters is the one inside the DAC and the Mini is slaved to it, eliminating that source of jitter.
The converter would be used if your DAC didn't have a good asynch USB input. Said converter would have asynch USB input and a very good clock, therefore outputting low jitter optical and making the combo Mini + converter a good transport.
here's my understanding: the clock inside the Mini is not great, and the output has a lot of jitter. This is true both for optical and USB.
If you choose an asynch USB DAC, then the clock that matters is the one inside the DAC and the Mini is slaved to it, eliminating that source of jitter.
The converter would be used if your DAC didn't have a good asynch USB input. Said converter would have asynch USB input and a very good clock, therefore outputting low jitter optical and making the combo Mini + converter a good transport.