budget USB S/PDIF converter?

thanks again everyone.

i'm debating between shiit bifrost and emotiva dac.

re: USB vs optical, it seems optical produces better results. as for a high end sound card, isn't that redundant (or rather pointless?) if you're out to a nice DAC? i thought the whole point of a PC music server is to circumvent all internal hardware to get to the DAC as directly as possible.

Davide256 - already being done. It's called Play To and available on Win8. There are several CE manufacturers that have in on their receivers, including Yamaha. These of course are not high-end implementations, so they will probably not beat a CD transport.

There are fewer hoops to jump through with Ethernet, but USB performance can match it with the right software/hardware.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"USB vs optical, it seems optical produces better results. as for a high end sound card, isn't that redundant (or rather pointless?)"

Actually no. The jitter from a USB interface can be much lower than Toslink from the computer. The DAC will not reduce jitter significantly, so you need it to be low going into the DAC. Anything that you have read to the contrary is marketing BS IME.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

thanks Steve. again. really appreciate the guidance.

so, what combo of usb card and software sets one up for the best out to a DAC?