Ckorody - Thanks for your point of view. Don't get me wrong, I was certainly not recommending (or discouraging) that anyone go out and spend $14K on a USB DAC. I'm not sure where you are getting that price. The two USB DAC's Wavelength offers are the Cosecant at $3500, and the Brick at $1750. Both are tube-buffered USB DACs. The only reason I pointed to the site was for the explanation of the two-way nature of the USB interface. I've never heard any of their products. Should you care to take your puzzlement directly to the source I believe Gordon Rankin is a frequent contributor over at AudioAsylum you could publicly ask him yourself there, or, of course, send him an email. It does make sense to me (obviously)...if there the information is going just one way there is no reference point to the accuracy of delivery from the origin. If two way the device has the potential to check the accuracy of the origin and adjust (buffer) accordingly. It sure seems logical to me. I completely agree that you do not need to spend a ton of money on this technology to get very rewarding results. Thanks for the links too!
Another note as an addendum to your post: The Waveterminal does utilize an internal clocking device. The feed from computer to Waveterminal is indeed USB. From there you can go via either SPDIF or Toslink to your DAC. I've done no comparisons to a USB DAC, but compared to my Muse transport hooked up to the Muse DAC via their proprietary connector (optimal for those two units). FWIW I cannot tell the difference between a CD on the transport and the signal delivered from the hard drive via the Waveterminal (either in Apple Lossless or WAV), at least in the system as it is hooked up in my home right now (currently at somewhat of a compramise in room treatment). I'll be curious to do the same test in my main system, which is currently not set up due to a renovation.
Marco
Another note as an addendum to your post: The Waveterminal does utilize an internal clocking device. The feed from computer to Waveterminal is indeed USB. From there you can go via either SPDIF or Toslink to your DAC. I've done no comparisons to a USB DAC, but compared to my Muse transport hooked up to the Muse DAC via their proprietary connector (optimal for those two units). FWIW I cannot tell the difference between a CD on the transport and the signal delivered from the hard drive via the Waveterminal (either in Apple Lossless or WAV), at least in the system as it is hooked up in my home right now (currently at somewhat of a compramise in room treatment). I'll be curious to do the same test in my main system, which is currently not set up due to a renovation.
Marco