in my DAW...
I use a turtle beach audio-advantage micro USB thumb "sound card" that outputs a toslink (16bit ony, and it resamples at that) > Edirol MA-15D digital powered monitors. the DAC in those speakers is "eh", but much better than running line out from the sound card.
For my needs, it is completely "good enough". I might at some point upgrade the sound card to something a little better and 24bit. I keep telling myself that I should get new monitors, but then I listen to them and am so impressed by what they do (and for how little I paid on eBay for them) that I dont think it a wise investment...right now.
In the big system, which streams from the network and can also act as my "workstation" if needed (and sometimes I do use this) is a Perpetual Technologies P1 digital correction engine (DSP, upsample, downsample, raw..etc) > P3 DAC (24/192). I chose this particular unit based on 3 factors.
1. excellent reviews
2. "future uprade" to DSD input via proprietary DIN input. i'm sure it will never be used..., but the idea that the DACs chips are based on DSD and not solely PCM is a plus in my book.
3. the stupidly cheap price that I was able to obtain this kit for.
can't complain.
If I were to "do it right" , I'd get myself an Apogee Mini-DAC w/USB input and powered monitors. That would be reference qual. for the DAW, IMO.