USB from Computer vs Optical from TV ?

[LoveAndHonor]

Hello guys,
 
I've benefited greatly from the amount of information available on these boards, though you'll probably notice that my post ratio says I am much more of a lurker / silent reader than a regular contributor. 

 
So far I've been listening to music with my cans (Pro900) plugged in the amp (amp being USB-plugged to my computer).
 
Yesterday I ordered an optical cable to use the optical line out of my amp Ibasso D12 and see for myself if there's a significant improvement from my current set-up.
 
However, I can't get my head around something. I don't use my computer screen to browse the web / prepare my playlists, it's always plugged on my TV from the computer's HDMI port.
 
Therefore, I was wondering if you guys could enlighten me on what would be the best set-up as far as general SQ goes:
 
Computer (FLAC / foobar2000) > USB > Ibasso D12 > Cans

or
 
Computer (FLAC / foobar2000) > HDMI > TV > Optical > Ibasso D12 > Cans
 
I think with the TV being in the middle of this set-up I might lose some SQ on the way but I've got no other option since my computer doesn't have an optical line-out.

What do you think?

Thanks!

 

[wuwhere]

The first one. In the second setup, the TV would downconverting the digital signal from the HDMI to S/PDF -> optical -> D12. The more conversion the more jitter and the more degradation of the digital audio.

 

[LoveAndHonor]

Thank you for the answer.
Got the optical cable today and the difference (downgrade in sound) was much more noticeable than I thought it would be.
 
I guess the optical cable would still be handy whenever I want to play video games. 

 
Last question: does it make any difference in getting the sound out from the PS3 optical line-out rather than the TV's (when playing video games)?