[zlobby]

My motherboard has a optical out.  Is it possible to go optical in and then use the 1/4" outputs on the back?  Or would I have to go optical in & out?  My emu is super clicky and poppy and im just trying to figure out something that may remedy this. 

 

[MrSlim]

If you are using the DAC capabilities of the 0404, then yes, use the 1/4" outs, since they would be outputting an Analog signal.   The Optical out would still be digital and pointless, unless you are feeding to another DAC(why would you really, you'd only be adding more possibilities for signal degradation).
 
Clicky and poppy might mean you need some driver updates if you are using windows..

 

[zlobby]

So then how do I know if the 0404 is using the optical signal rather than the one from usb?  It still needs to be plugged in via usb to communicate with the computer.  

 

[Yoga Flame]

If the DAC is hooked up to the computer using optical, then there's no need for the USB cable anymore. At least, that's how it works with regular DACs. Not too sure about the 0404 since it is also has other functions.
 
There should be a setting somewhere to specify which audio output to use. On the Mac it's under "Sound" in the system preferences. I've not used Windows in a while.

 

[jiiteepee]

USB cable can be left unplugged when you feed data to the 0404 USB through S/PDIF (though, lefting cable plugged isn't harmful).
 
NOTE:
Some/many integrated audio does not support 44.1 kHz natively so you might have internal resampling before data is sent to 0404 USB.
 
 
jiitee

 

[zlobby]

I got it to work with just the optical input, but I was still getting clicking.  The only time this unit has worked was using windows XP (im using 7).  So maybe ill switch to XP until they update the drivers.