I would think an USB/SPDIF converter would improve the sound coming from your DACs USB input regardless of sampling rate. Audirvana I believe is capable of doing the upsampling, and I understand that upsampling is best accomplished by the program rather than via a DAC chip (that may be debatable and may depend on chip). The limitation as to the level of upsampling to be deployed by Audirvana should be the limit of the DAC input.
192 from usb/spdif to NOS dac to amp
I have some flac files that I want to optimize the SQ on.
I have an Audio Note NOS DAC with USB and coax inputs.
I have a Mac MINI with USB out.
My thinking is that if I route the MAC USB to a USB/SPDIF converter that Audirvana will recognize as a 24/192 device that it will convert the flac to 24/192. Then the output of the flac from the converter will then output to the NOS DAC, through the coax (spdif) at a better resolution (sq). Then the dac will not over sample anything at all because it has all been accomplished by the usb/spdif converter.
On my dac, the USB is inferior to the coax input but I do not have any way of converting my flac to any higher resolution that 24/96.
I hope this is enough info.
I have an Audio Note NOS DAC with USB and coax inputs.
I have a Mac MINI with USB out.
My thinking is that if I route the MAC USB to a USB/SPDIF converter that Audirvana will recognize as a 24/192 device that it will convert the flac to 24/192. Then the output of the flac from the converter will then output to the NOS DAC, through the coax (spdif) at a better resolution (sq). Then the dac will not over sample anything at all because it has all been accomplished by the usb/spdif converter.
On my dac, the USB is inferior to the coax input but I do not have any way of converting my flac to any higher resolution that 24/96.
I hope this is enough info.