Quite possibily a dumb Q but arent all SPdif outputs the same?

[Tinders]

Hi Guys, sorry for the long winded title, but i was under the impression that if you used the SPDIF on say the on board SC, that the quality would be the same as say a xonar D2X, as its all 1 and 0's anyway?

Or am I simplifying things too much?

 

[AbsenceJam]

Yes they're exactly the same, they just output the digital signal.

 

[dave-lew99]

Generally speaking - yes they are.

There are some minor differences though - all digital outputs are subject to clock jitter, so the better quality clock used to generate the signal, the better the output (jitter causes loss of clarity, particularly in the stereo imaging) You're unlikely to notice the difference until you've spent approaching £6-7k on just speakers, clock source and DAC alone, maybe not even then.

Obviously, SPDIF can carry other formats - encoded AC3/DTS/PCM/ADAT.