USB versus FireWire

Debates about USB  versus FireWire more or less following the same pattern as Mac versus Windows, you are in for a nice flare.
A sane discussion can be found here: http://www.diyhifi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1650
Observe that some of the participant are manufacturers of USB-DACs.

A good treaty on FireWire as a bus for audio by Julian Dunn.

 

Being the first, Firewire had an advantage over USB but USB improved strongly over time.
I think today sound quality is not depended on the bus chosen but depends on the way it is implemented.
Both are capable of bit perfect transmission
Both can induce input jitter
Both can be used in isochronous  and asynchronous mode
For asynchronous mode (considered best for audio), you need a dedicated device driver.

USB 2 implementations support up to 24/96, Firewire is available up to 24/192.

 

If you look at the USB-DAC page it is rather limited, (not only because I don’t know every single USB-DAC). Note that big names, companies who has a reputation in high end audio are not in this list or if they are, their offerings are very recent.
There is still a big gap between traditional audio and PC audio.

 

In case of FireWire, the offers are even more limited.

 

Apogee offers the Duet and the Mini, Weiss its Minerva (the tip is to go for the PRO-model, same specs but substantial lower price tag).

As Apple drops FireWire support on some of its new models, I wonder if FireWire is the way to go.