Behringer SRC2496 or Firewire soundcard?

[Cromulent]

What is the general opinion on this? Would it be better to get this or would I see more of an advantage getting an external firewire soundcard? Basically I want something to take the optical output of the computer and then plug it into the amp. I'm clueless when it comes to audio.

I'd be interested to hear some informed opinions.

 

[Killyp]

I'd get an Firewire audio interface, the M-Audio ones are excellent.

It's all well and good just connecting a digital cable into your amplifier, but you're then relying on the DAC inside the amplifier as opposed to the one in the Mac, and the internal DACs inside most A/V amplifiers aren't particularly good quality...

 

[Cromulent]

I'd get an Firewire audio interface, the M-Audio ones are excellent.

Hmm, yeah I looked at the Solo I think it was called but I couldn't find it from a UK distributer. I wasn't sure if I would see any improvement from getting a higher up model.

It's all well and good just connecting a digital cable into your amplifier, but you're then relying on the DAC inside the amplifier as opposed to the one in the Mac, and the internal DACs inside most A/V amplifiers aren't particularly good quality...

It isn't an A/V amp that is why I need the DAC to use the digital output. At the moment I'm just using the standard audio out, but was hoping if I got the Behringer I could instead move over using the optical out and then getting the advantage of the better DAC that it contains rather than relying on the Mac hardware to do it for me.

Cheers for the advice .