"Ethernet has always been a premium product aimed at the office/enterprise market."
I completely disagree. Ethernet is ubiquitous, simple, plug and play, and very inexpensive. It is also wirelessly supported via 802.11 in a way than USB is not. Try to find a PC that comes without either wired ethernet or 802.11, and if you do add a NIC for about $20.
There's a chap over at www.pinkfishmedia.net in the UK who builds audiophile squeezeboxes. Lots of talk over on that sight about modding the SB with low jitter clocks, and better output stages also.
http://www.at-tunes.co.uk/
If it were me I'd probably buy a vanilla SB and experiment with an external DAC, like a lavry.
I completely disagree. Ethernet is ubiquitous, simple, plug and play, and very inexpensive. It is also wirelessly supported via 802.11 in a way than USB is not. Try to find a PC that comes without either wired ethernet or 802.11, and if you do add a NIC for about $20.
There's a chap over at www.pinkfishmedia.net in the UK who builds audiophile squeezeboxes. Lots of talk over on that sight about modding the SB with low jitter clocks, and better output stages also.
http://www.at-tunes.co.uk/
If it were me I'd probably buy a vanilla SB and experiment with an external DAC, like a lavry.