Hi folks, I've purchased a
Musical Fidelity V-DAC II. The V-DAC II is the new update to the previous popular DAC model by Musical Fidelity, the V-DAC. The MSRP for the V-DAC II is $349, about $50 more than the previous model.
Photos of the V-DAC II
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V-DAC-II.jpg
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V-DAC-II-inputs.jpg
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V-DAC-II-output.jpg
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V-DAC-II-bottom.jpg
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V-DAC-II-inside.jpg
For that extra $50 you get updates in the appearance and finish of the chassis, updating the standard USB input to an asynchronous USB port and improvements to the technical performance. With the asynchronous USB port you can now stream a full 24-bit / 96 kHz. I also tried the one 24-bit / 192 kHz album I have but it looks like the media is down-sampled to 24/96 on the software side before being sent over USB to the DAC.
On the bottom there are two rubber feet that run the length of the enclosure. The audio output from the DAC is via one set of RCA outputs located at one end of the enclosure. The digital inputs are located at the opposite end and consist of a USB (type B) port, an RCA (coaxial) and a S/PDIF (optical) input. There is an input switch which will allow you to select the input mode between either USB or optical/coaxial. The switch is physically small and located in between the USB and coaxial inputs. With both the USB and coaxial inputs in use some may find it a little difficult to get their finger in there to flip the switch, I had no problems. There are two LED indicators, a cool blue for power and a light green to indicate a digital signal lock. Power to the unit is provided by an external 12VDC (500 mA) wall wart type power supply included with the DAC unit. There are no power controls on the DAC or the external power supply. All the connections and controls are labeled on the enclosure. The input selection switch is marked as selectable between USB and coaxial, but it actually selects between either the USB port or both the optical and coaxial inputs. On the inside there is a Burr-Brown SRC4392 stereo, asynchronous sample rate converter and a Burr-Brown DSD1796 stereo DAC (24-Bit 192 kHz).
The specifications note that the maximum output signal is 2.2V. Across 20 Hz to 20 kHz the response is noted as +0/-0.1dB, THD (total harmonic distortion) is 0.004% and the SNR (signal to noise ratio) is -117dB.
Set up of the Musical Fidelity V-DAC II is very simple - just plug the USB input to a computer and the V-DAC II is automatically added as new hardware. I tried on both Windows 7 and Windows XP setups with no issues. Playing music is as simple using your media playback software (I use foobar2000).
I've had the V-DAC II for over a month now. I find the overall sound to be neutral with no colorations. I find the neutral signature to be pleasant, accurate and rich with details and emotion. The DAC is about $349 and IMO the performance is pretty high for this price. The V-DAC II is the perfect all in one package that will quickly get you decent quality audio from a computer. The DAC upsamples so it can also be effectively used to upgrade the aging digital end of your old CD player. Excellent value for the money here.
Cheers
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FAQ
Two things come to mind on the subject. First the most recent issue of Absolute Sound has a lot of information about digital audio and they (the stalwarts of analog) say now that digital is the way to go for source material (wow). 
Second I got a flyer in the mail last week from Oppo. They are now marketing a device to allow linking the Oppo players to the internet via an ethernet connection. If I recall (I have to look) it was really inexpensive. With the premium DACS in the Oppo SE series this could be a really cool thing. I can see linking a PC to the Oppo as possibly great way to get into high quality digital music. 
I'm really enjoying my high res music collection on the computer and this DAC is a good all in one solution. The BDP83 won't stream 24/96, you have to burn the file as Mark indicated. I think the new models BDP93 and BDP95 are much better for streaming.