audio experts: are cheap SPDIF's as good as expensive?

[dpopiz]

SPDIF is just digital, so is there any reason for a cheapo USB-to-SPDIF converter to have low-quality sound?

btw I'm just talking about a stereo music stream

 

[IEC]

Well if you're going to say use the Chaintech Card From Newegg, then you'll be getting bit-perfect digital SP/DIF, which means that you shouldn't notice a difference with expensive ones. The software and hardware encoding will vary though. Depends on your needs, but a stereo setup should be fine on the Chaintech card.

Edit: Whoops didn't read the USB to SPDIF part - the USB connection might lead to degredation in sound quality... idk.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If the USB to SPDIF is working properly then it should be just as good as something expensive.

 

[phisrow]

Hardware wise, you should have no trouble. Assuming it works at all, it works as well as anything. The limitations on quality will be in the DAC to which it is connected. However, the drivers might(or might not) be another story. There are dark stories from time to time(many of them about Creative) involving drivers doing horribly things in the background. While even the big players aren't immune to shockingly bad drivers, there is a certain history of wacky off-brand hardware being just fine in hardware terms; but having drivers that seems to have been designed by a comittee involving Barney, the Marquis de Sade, and an inebriated Gibbon.