I've ran a 4 in, 4 out ADAT-CAT5 snake thingy on Linux, so 32 channels in and out. The remote end was synced via Word Clock with the Linux box providing master clock. RME RayDat for a soundcard, RME converters in the remote rack. Worked 100 % flawlessly, I even did live sound on it. ADAT is a 'just works' thing, go for it. You just need to understand that one device needs to be the clock master and others follow that.