USB to DAC vs soundcard to DAC

[edorts]

Chris,

 

I am very new to computer audio. I have music in FLAC on a big flash drive that I run through my business laptop to a DECCO amp ( with USB in ) then to my forty year old college speakers....ALTEC Voice of the Theater.

 

Could you say few words about USB to DAC vs sound card to DAC. Ignoring clocks/jitter for the moment, I'm trying to understand the benefits of using the sound card. You are obviously bi-passing the D to A in the sound card. The sound card appears to pass much higher sampling rates than USB will currently allow. What else am I missing?

 

Thanks