On the DSD front, Al and I were at a recent DSD DAC event and I think it's safe to say we were impressed by the Benchmark DAC2 (at least in that setup). I'm certainly interested in DSD, though the differences between DACs were greater than the differences between formats.
If you end up going with a DAC that doesn't support USB/SD, the Squeezebox Touch has SD & USB slots (can only use one at a time). You could feed up to 24/96 from there.
^ True dat. Been watching on and off this last two weeks and its bothering me much less than when first broadcast. As you said a lot of good info there.
On the other side of the financial scale, USB to Lightning cables for $.75.
http://dealmac.com/Box-Wave-Lightning-to-USB-Cable-for-Apple-iPhone-5-for-75-cents-3-s-h/672528.html
I won't expect these to handle digital audio (many third parties reportedly don't), but who knows?