Apogee MiniDac vs Benchmark DAC1 via USB

I have not tried the Apogee, but do have the Benchmark with a PC set up. I am using an RME card with an AES/EBU balanced link and it sounds great. The Benchmark is so jitter resistant (and the RME has really good jitter specs) that I don't think I would gain anything going to USB. The balanced connection can also be run much further than a coax or toslink. Even the analog output of the RME card is surprisingly good.
- J

Have you tried a toslink connection?

For long runs, I had bad luck w/toslink... Just sounded cloudy. I use an Edirol UA-1D, which converts USB to coax with a looooong USB run and a short coax run to my Theta DAC.

I have not done any critical listening comparing toslink, coax, and XLR connections, but from everything I know, I would avoid a toslink connection, particularly a long one.
-J

You can look at the apple airport wireless access point.
It has a toslink out. You can strem music from your computer to the wireless unit.