usb vs toslink?

A1126 - if you are not happy with the AE I suggest you try the Hagerman or Blue Circle. You have nice toys and these don't cost much.

As Fatparrot points out, there are (nothing new) two flavors of Toslink - glass and plastic. I ran a Wireworld SuperNova (glass) directly from my Mac G4 to a TriVista and it was excellent - unfortunately I don't think anyone is making a cable this good for the mini-Toslink

van den Hul Octocoupler is available in 3 configurations:

1) Toslink to Toslink
2) Mini to Toslink
3) Mini to Mini

Ckorody, when Toslink first came out, I thought that it was only available in plastic, as opposed to the AT&T Glass cable [not compatible with the Toslink terminations].

My PC is about 100 feet away from my DAC. If I am not mistaken, Hagerman usb converter uses usb cable not CAT5. So, the 15-foot limitation on usb cable length would be an issue. (The optic usb cable is very expensive and such it's out of question.) Is there any alternative to it?

What do you think of Squeezbox which uses CAT5. (It costs more than double the Hagerman's usb.) Any other inexpensive choices?

why the 15 ft limitation for usb cable??

Check out this thread for comparisons among different digital playback methods (e.g., Toslink vs usb vs CD-R, etc):
Digital Playback Comparison