What is the advantage of S/PDIF over composite audio?

[MDesigner]

I'm looking at getting an adapter to allow me to plug my Xbox into my monitor. I have the option of getting it with the standard left/right RCA audio cables, or a S/PDIF cable. No extra charge, but if I want S/PDIF, I have to wait till Oct 30th to order this thing.

I'm wondering what the advantage is? Obviously it's digital, but is it noticeably clearer? Also, if the connection between my sound card & my speakers is analog, is there really no point? The only advantage I could see is if I wanted to record sound from the Xbox into the computer... I could capture pure digital using S/PDIF. But I don't really have a purpose for that.

Suggestions?

 

[Cannabis]

SPDIF supports 5.1 whereas stereo does not. Also since it is digital it doesnt suffer as much from interference. COmes in two flavors optical and coaxial.

 

[beatle]

Yup, you won't get 5.1 out of the XBox's RCA outputs. Depending on your demands for audio clarity and quality (and the speakers of your computer) you might not notice much of a difference.

Does your soundcard even support spdif input?

FWIW, I hook my speakers up to my computer with analog cables as well. It's the only way to get DVD-Audio out of the darn thing. :|

 

[MDesigner]

Well, seeing how I only have a 2.1 speaker set, I guess S/PDIF isn't too important. My speakers are Altec Lansing, nothing too spectacular about them, though the sound quality is pretty nice.

I may just go for the regular composite RCA jacks.

And yeah, my soundcard does have S/PDIF input. It's color-coded brown and looks just like an RCA input (I assume this is the optical flavor). I have S/PDIF in and out on my card, as well as analog L/R in and out.