Of course the real question is that while AoIP may be able to avoid some of the shortfalls o USB, does it come to the table with any issues of it's own. Let's not forget that as a new technology it is mainly being put out there by folks that are transmitting plain vanilla audio (heck most computer folks are very happy with mp3).
Who knows what will come to light when people try to use it in the text of a high end high resolution audio system.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to poo poo the technology right out of the box. I hope it will work out great for us. but if past history is any indication, it will be just great until the audiophiles try to use it and then some of the issues will start to come to light. maybe they will be able to fix them, maybe not. Maybe we will luck out and there will be no real problems to address.
I will just remain optimistically cautious until we see some real high end audio implementations of this new technology, as computer folks have historically had some pretty low standards for what constitutes acceptable audio performance. (Which is quite understandable as audio is a sidebar to their technology, not the main reason for it.)