Ya my motherboard has a toslink output. So if I'm understanding, toslink is made for regular audio to be lossless and because it's using light
With the current state of audio jargon, lossless will tend to refer to compression of digital files rather than signal loss over long cable runs.
it can't pass Hi-def lossless audio like HDMI can (which will possibly have EMI)
What kind of files/sample rates do you have?
When you're using the built in sound card on your computer as a DAC, I would not be too concerned about the resolution of the files you're playing.
The toslink connection will completely eliminate the noise you're experiencing. There are certainly high resolution USB DACs that you can use that will provide the same effect, but I think it's best to start with a $20 DAC to provide a baseline for proper noise performance.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2018, 07:03:42 AM by Caucasian Blackplate »
Paul "PB" Birkeland
Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man