usb dac for hi-end system

I'm at a loss with your Scarlatti why you would not just use the matching dCS USB interface?

http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/product/scarlatti-upsampler

Surely this is matched and surely dCS would not release anything inferior? Thoughts?

I use the Paganini equivalent set up and as far as I can tell, with J River Media Center /Wasapi exclusive / ASUS EB1501 USB / Paganini USB interface, the sound is every bit as good as the Paganini transport via AES EBU. Adding room correction (Audiolense), it is clearly better than the transport.

I've not compared other DACs but have reports from two reviewers who have, that you the dCS gear is definitely in a different league to the cheaper DACs.

Look forward to hearing of your experiences.

When asynchronous mode is used, Firewire and USB are identical in performance (in theory), assuming that the USB interface is well implemented. This means good design, layout and parts choices.

However, the implementation is where the differences happen, and it's due to the fact that most of these designers are not digital designers with a a lot of high-speed experience, even at the larger, older companies.

All it takes is for the designer to throw the schematic over the wall to the layout guy. This will usually ruin the design. If the designer does not do the board layout manually himself, the design will undoubtedly be compromised. He/she must be both a good circuit designer and layout designer to achieve a stellar result. There are literally thousands of critical design decisions along the way in both the circuit and board design.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I agree with the posters who have recommended that you consider a USB to S/PDIF converter, such as this one. You have such an amazing digital front end already. Adding a converter to it would be a very economical way of getting your feet wet with computer based audio.

definetly I agree with you on dcs gear but I just wanted to check wheter there is some other dscs or converters to be tried.
and actually ı have tried last weekend direct from mac mini via minijack to toslink adpater to dcs dac, result was really satisfying.