Quote Originally Posted by robruffo View Post
Just buy any sound card that has an optical out. Go to a real computer store (NOT Best Buy) and ask them what's a good deal. Most sound cards are very easy plug and play, and if you are using digital out, all sound cards are pretty much the same - they vary in quality only in terms of their analog conversion abilities (so only when using an analog out, like headphone-out), otherwise (when using optical, or digital coaxial out) it is your receiver doing all the work, and your sound card is just relaying the 0s and 1s present in the sound file you are playing directly to your receiver (and there is no way to do this any way other than perfectly).

Your receiver will decode these 0s and 1s, and convert them to the analog current that drives your speakers .

You can get flawless optical cables at Monoprice.com for dirt cheap - I'm running 30 feet here, and I paid about $15 for it. One of the great things about optical cables is that you can use super-long runs without any signal decay at all.


thank you for the info