ehous

Note, I used a neutrik bnc with isolation from the chassis. The edges had to be filed down flat to fit in the pic space. Ground the shield to the pic bracket. And your output will be shielded. I could send a picture if you think it will help. As for comparison. I just did it this week end for who knows how many times, with the newer usb, USB is better. However, the generations prior to a few years ago ( dacs & pc's ) I liked the spdif better. All my opinion of course...

I purchased about every sound card out there a few years back, the mother board always sounded better. Even if using direct sound. I believe the issue on the pro cards was always asio. Wasapi or direct sound were more musical.

On your spdif header, I experimented with several isolation transformers before finding Scientific Conversions. They offer the best digital isolaters of all I tried. The one he recommended I use had a shield that I shorted to the computer chassis and with a neutric isolated bnc on a pci slot plate, it worked great. Something to consider. Also, if your spdif header on the mb has three poles, remove the third wire. It's a 5 volt feed for optical and adds noise.