Is USB overrated as decent digital source?

There are many misconceptions about USB audio.

The speed demands for streaming audio are so slow compared to the rest of the hardware that they have no problem keeping up. Even USB 1.1 is plenty fast enough.

USB for audio uses isochronous transfer and does not have any provisions for error correction. Even if it did error correction has nothing to do with jitter.

So are we saying that a .wav file is perfect as the information contained has been cross checked several times during ripping (eg better than streaming CD)?
Using a laptop connected via USB to a DAC such as the Audio Note 2.1, must be close to the perfect source???
The CDP manufacturers must be quaking in their boots.
I would much rather have a nice laptop as part of my system than an expensive spinner.

Yep Michael - you have figured it out - what's fascinating is to watch the massively time delayed reaction the industry seems to be taking. Here we are once again post RMAP and post CES and I have seen no coverage about any products that address this - meanwhile Apple blew all the projections out the doo - again - selling iPods. These are not big dots to connect....

Considering that the mid and hi-fi business has been on the ropes for years, if not decades, I find it remarkable that anyone in the 21st century is willing to sit around while their market share evaporates...

BTW IMHO the issue is not the multiple cross checks - its much simpler. Its simply much easier to pull data off a CD then it is to playback a CD in real time. Game over

You've got it Michael!

That's why I divested myself of an expensive single purpose device for a multiple purpose device -- MacBook. It and a Wavelength Ag Brick make beautiful music, much, MUCH more conveniently, and less expensively than my former CDP.

the difference in cost of USB converters is mostly due to four factors:

1) the inclusion of a low-jitter clock, such as Superclock4.
2) external power supply
3) custom software driver (not using the stock Windows driver)
4) optimum design and parts selection, regardless of cost

These four factors drive the cost up orders of magnitude, but also result in sound quality that matches or beats the best transports. It's like the difference between a Samsung $60 DVD player as a transport or an Esoteric.

Yah Steve. Agree with you. There's always a high cost if we want to squeeze the last drop of performance out of something. Out of the 4 points you listed, is No.1 the most costly?

As you said USB is merely a method to get data out of a computer, yet I think it's one of the greatest technology invented, for us computer audio freak. :D