I have a question about the quality of the digital signal sent from the
SPDIF connection of a PC sound card. I would like to use my computer to
play uncompressed music on my stereo. I am looking for a way to take
the music data from the file on my hard drive and transparently send it
via SPDIF to an external amp with no modification such as PC volume
control or resampling. Can this be done such that if I could decode
the SPDIF and compare it to the original file, it would be the same?
What would the sound quality be compared to a CD player also using a
digital connection? Is this is dependent on the program used to play
the files? I have SPDIF on the MB but am considering upgrading to an
Audiophile 2496. Any recommendations? Does this matter or will the MB
SPDIF output be the same thing?

Thanks in advance