[linux-audio-user] Straight-talking digitally

[Paul]

Hi all,

This might seem like a silly question, but I'm having an
unexpectedly hard time putting together something I consider
to be quite simple in essence.

The intent: play music from PC (eg .ogg/.mp3 etc) via S/PDIF to
an external DAC, and thence to sound system.

The problem: finding a soundcard supported by Linux and which
offers the option of unadulterated digital output. Ie. I want the
soundcard to simply stream the bits at 44.1Khz (or 48) and not
shag around with it in any way.

My current setup is a compromise. I have onboard sound with
a VIA8233 (Avance AC'97) 6ch chipset, and am using Windows
XP with this, since the latest ALSA driver doesn't produce any
sound on the S/PDIF output (although the optical port lights up).

Trouble is, I don't trust the Windows driver, since the control
panel for it allows me to select DSP environments and use a
graphic equaliser. With the environment set to "none" and the
equaliser off is it providing a "pure" bitstream un-molested in any
way? Who knows.

So, the question to you is simply: do you know of any soundcards
which would fit the bill - ie. with a fully working Linux driver, and
known to be configured to produce "pure" digital out.

Cheers,
Paul.
-- 
Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology:
	There's always one more bug.