ITunes Digital Output using M-Audio Transit USB???

Hi all,
Having recently attached an M-Audio Transit USB external "soundcard" to my Mac Mini (PPC) and hooked up the TOSlink digital output from the Transit to my AV amplifier, I can definitely state that Apple DVD Player and VLC both utilise the Digital Output, giving me full 5.1 AC3 signals from DVDs/DivX movies etc, which I had hoped to be the case.
However, I'm curious as to what the actual output from iTunes is. If I'm playing an Apple Lossles audio file, does iTunes decompress this to the original 44kHz PCM and send this through Core Audio straight to the Digital output of the Transit? In other words, am I getting bit-accurate audio information into the AV amp?
Anyone who can confirm or deny this, please let me know, as this was one reason for me buying the Transit!!!!
Also, any idea how to get DTS audio from a redbook CD out from this setup? Will VLC handle it? Or even iTunes???
Thanks,
JF
15" Powerbook PPC G4 1.5 (1Gb RAM) + MacMini PPC G4 1.5 (512Mb RAM)   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

You can get full 5.1 AC3 signals from DVD because that's what the audio on the disk is encoded with. You won't get 5.1 AC3 or DTS signals from iTunes if the files are only encoded in stereo. I don't have a Transit, but I have the Sonica USB which is the previous model of the same device. They have different drivers (and your Intel Mac mini would have different drivers than a PPC Mac mini with the same Transit device), but I would guess we have similar experiences with the devices. You won't get DTS out of any file that's not DTS to begin with. That's one reason the Transit System Preferences pane will give you options to configure non-surround sound audio coming from your Mac mini to your stereo.
-Doug

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