Sample Rate Conversion does two things:
1) Allows the Digital Input to run at a different rate than the Project Rate. This means if you have an external device that is running at 88.2kHz, you can have your project rate set to 96kHz and it will still work OK. Without SRC you would have to run your Project Rate at the same sample rate as the Digital Input (and external device).
2) Allows you to have more than one clock domain present in a digital system. Normally only one device can be the clock master in a digital system, but with SRC you can have more than one clock domain and the sample rate converter will keep everything OK.
Of course there is a price to pay for everything, and Sample Rate Conversion does effect the audio quality. However the SRC on the AES16e-SRC has 144dB dynamic range, so I doubt you could actually hear any artifacts from the SRC.
By the way, the first AES16e cards shipped to customers today.
Thank you,
David A. Hoatson
Lynx Studio Technology, Inc.