[linux-audio-dev] Reliability of SPDIF sync w/ onboard audio?

[drclaw at dogsolitude.org]

Ok, given a pair of commodity Linux PC's with cheapo onboard audio
codecs capable of SPDIF input and output, assuming I sent identical
input signals into both machines and didn't perform any processing in
the middle, could I reasonably expect the output signals to be
synchronized, or should I expect unpleasant phasing / delay effects
when listening to both channels simultaneously as a result of the
inherently flakey consumer-grade codecs?

The above is a simplification that should address my major concern...

The goal here is to use a pair of redundant, inexpensive machines for
live midi-controlled (headless) playback where the physical security
of the location is lax enough that using my laptop + hammerfall would
be too risky, not to mention 35 channels worth of overkill.  Ideally
these two machines would accept some sort of SPDIF format square-wave
from some low power clock logic on their inputs and play identical,
pre-cached wav files on their outputs when they recieve simultaneous
"go" signals from the MIDI playback desk.

Any experiences or opinions are welcome...

Thanks,

- Mike Piantedosi