macmini spdif out vs. usb

thanks for the response guys, i've been doing alot of reading the past few days, and this makes sense. I will pony up for the usb option, piece of mind is certainly worth an additional $300. Nothing worse than wondering if it could just be a 'little' better....

i am not familiar with the benchmark usb dac, but it would have to be VERY good to beat a wavelength cosecant. i just got the cosecant and i could not be happier. in any case, the USB dac is certainly the way to go.

BTW, for the record, I am definitely NOT a fan of the Benchmark DAC. Since your question was very specific to that DAC I answered specifically the question you asked. I should probably add that I found the Benchmark to be too harsh for my ears in two different systems I tried it in at length, as well as in a friend's system briefly. It is a very analytical and detailed DAC. I'd associate it more with its Pro-Audio origins. I had a Wavelength Brick that I liked very much, and would guess that Jeffrey Bowman's recommendation of their Cosecant would be more to my liking as well. To use the common vernacular, the Wavelengths are more musical, softer-edged, and warmer - that from my experience with The Brick, and from what I've read on his other DACs. Benchmark are more analytical, neutral, and hard-edged to my ears. Some folks like that kind of sound, apparently. I'm not one of them.

Marco

Well, you guys make some great points. My system so far is krell 250m monoblocks going to nht 2.9 speakers, so am a little concerned about the overly analytical sound. I'm pretty sure I want balanced outs of the dac, so should probably do some more legwork on figuring out the dac options. So far i have done a little reading on:
wavelength brick
apogee mini dac
grace headphone amp

I know that benchmark has a 30 day audition, pretty sure i can get that with the apogee, if I can swing that with the wavelength i might give that a try a the same time.

Haven't heard the benchmark, but have had lots of experience with both the Brick and the Cosecant, (both being used with apple lossless files on a mac mini) and the Cosecant is one of the best sources I have ever heard- right up there with the infamous Meridian signature reference 808 CD player (the best CD player I have ever heard). Either way- USB is the way to go, being that it is bi-directional and essentially syncs itself, eliminating any clocking or jitter issues that you might find on an SPDIF device.