Hi all -

Thanks for your input ...

Computer is within audio cabinet - cables only need to be 3 feet long ...

Another option is to use the motherboard's audio - I have S/PDIF in and out, either optical or coaxial, available via motherboard connector to rear panel via an optional cable I picked up from manufacturer. Mobo is Gigabyte K8N51PVM9-RH, audio chipset is Realtek ALC880 CODEC.

The motherboard manual indicates that the Realtek chipset can support audio at up to 192 kHz/24-bit, however the S/PDIF menu/selections only show 44.1, 48 & 96 kHz as options for the I/O. I haven't read up on the Realtek chipset ... I'll do some web searching ...

Maybe I can use the motherboard S/PDIF? What do you all think?

Thanks again -

- Ian