The DIP sounded really good. I used the hardware upsampler and sent 16/44.1 signals via Foobar and ASIO4All. Most of my files were WAV and some FLAC's although I played mp3's every now and then as well. Obviously WAV's and FLAC's sounded awesome and MP3's were only so so. I didn't have anything to really compare it to since I sort of planned the system this way. I had a NAD 521i feeding Modwright CIA Dac with a NAD C350 Integrated on Triangle Titus 202's. That was an alright system, but obviously flawed.
I ended up with the modded Monarchy feeding a Empirical Modded Panasonic XR45 which is based on Equibit amps like TacT. The system was completely digital until the final conversion by the Equibit chips. It sounded really really clean and free. To the point where the Triangles (and my room) became the limiting factor. I wish I had the chance to audition the gear on better speakers, but I had to sell since I'm planning to move overseas shortly.
So after all of this, all I can say is that PC audio is legit. I think Steve's product is great because it serves as the perfect conduit for digital information to be sent from your Hard Drive to your DAC. The only more direct method would be to install a transit directly into your DAC and avoid any connections to reduce jitter even further.
Sorry for the long wind. Hope it helps in your search.
