Soundsgoodtome
Headphoneus Supremus
If you say so. To be fair, I used the NFB-15 and the D100 over optical as well. And I have used the NFB both ways and heard no difference. Obviously everyone's ears are different, YMMV, yadda yadda.
Well you have more experience than I do on the Modi. I guess the ODAC vs Modi comparison is just off as they're 'neck to neck' found here. Like the D100 and ODAC sounding very close. But onboard optical usually means you're using onboard sound as a transport, which typically are less than stellar. But yes, unless you have the actual tested units then YMMV always
I was using optical out of the Sound Blaster Omni so I can use it as a DSP (virtual surround). Maybe that's the difference? The SB is a decent unit and blows away most onboard sound.
In that case there might be a difference in transport quality as SB usually does things better than onboard realteks etc.