Back in 2005 I had a recording gig where I recorded Jerome Harris for a live show. I used a computer based system running at 96/24 and a Masterlink running at 96/24. For the computer I ran a Grace Design converter and the Master link used the internal converters. I had a kludge spdif/firewire system set up for the computer system. The computer based system beat the Masterlink. I have used the Masterlink as a two track back up on occasions afterwards. I don't find its converters to be on part with other outboard gear.
Up until a year ago I always used firewire as an output from my computer, converted to spdif to my dac. This sounded best to me and when mixing large mult rack projects gave me the best idea of what I was doing. Async usb sounds very good to me, so much so I no longer go firewire spdif but just straight async usb. I also prefer async usb over a cdp. Howere, that wasn't true before async usb. Although my firewire spdif conversion bettered my cdp. Ymmv
Up until a year ago I always used firewire as an output from my computer, converted to spdif to my dac. This sounded best to me and when mixing large mult rack projects gave me the best idea of what I was doing. Async usb sounds very good to me, so much so I no longer go firewire spdif but just straight async usb. I also prefer async usb over a cdp. Howere, that wasn't true before async usb. Although my firewire spdif conversion bettered my cdp. Ymmv