[ILUG] External sound output box?

[Mikhail Ramendik]

Hello,

I would like to get higher quality, lower noise sound out of my computer. 
Currently the computer has a sound controller that is built into the ASUS 
P4P800 motherboard; this includes a relatively low quality analog output and 
a normal SPDIF output.

The best case seems to be attaching an AV receiver via SPDIF, but I'm not sure 
I can get an AV receiver soon.

Therefore I need some external box (to avoid the interference inside the 
case). This could either convert SPDIF to analog, or attach as USB and output 
good analog.

Questions are:

- Are any SPDIF-to-analog converters available in Ireland at all?

- Of the USB sound boxes available here, which can be used under Linux, i.e. 
have appropriate ALSA drivers?

-- 
Yours, Mikhail Ramendik