As I learn more about digital audio, I'm appreciating that while "bits are bits", the timing of those bits when they arrive at the DAC are very important to the ultimate sound quality. DACs do have clocks as part of their design, to "re-clock" those bits that arrive at their input stage, but "re-clocking" can only do so much to correct for timing errors.
I suspect, with your particular set of components the port on the Music Vault and your DAC just pair better together than the other options. I'd recommend you look into a cable upgrade, as that will likely further improve the sound quality.
I suspect, with your particular set of components the port on the Music Vault and your DAC just pair better together than the other options. I'd recommend you look into a cable upgrade, as that will likely further improve the sound quality.