Mabey it's just me, but I've always thought music from my CD player via optical or coax sounded a littlebit better than music from my computer via USB , tough I've never done any blind comparison or ,for that mater, listened to the same CD from both sources so it could be more a reflection of the isgnal quality at the source.
I'd be very much suprised if there weren't USB cords being sold for a lot more than $500. I'm sure there are people who would buy them then swear that it was as though many layers of blankets had been unwrapped from their speakers.
I hope they don't knock the clocks over when they're removing all of thos blankets.