@dcc
> How does that change audio quality?
It doesn't, it's about CPU utilization and the rest of the post was about it in case you haven't noticed :marseysmirk:
> Usb is a digital output, the fiber audio bs does thing to the 1 and 0's
Man, what are you talking about? It carries digital signal that is PCM-encoded — literally the same that gets sent to your USB soundcard after audio file gets decoded. It was originally limited to 48 kHz, but it was since then extended and now there is even a protocol to negotiate the sampling rate, it can now carry a sync signal — nothing is happening to your ones and zeroes unless you cable is damaged, the only issue you might encounter is jitter if flawed clock is used on the sending end, but there are strategies to work that around and it shouldn't be a problem when there is sync.
It's the same DAC principle — digital signal gets sent and then converted back to analog by your amp/receiver and then sent to your speakers or headphones, it's just more simple as no USB is involved.
If you like your USB card who am I to judge — enjoy! But if you think that it's the only way to get digital audio out of your computer… Well, it's not, deal with it :marseyshrug:
@kaia @newt