On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:22:40 -0000, pcbldrNinetyEight
<pcbldrninetyeight.com> wrote:


>I would prefer to have an analog audio output connector on a DVD drive so I
>could choose eithier digital or analog signal.

Choice IS good, but IMO you should never need the analog
unless there's another problem.


>
>I have one drive a circa '02 CD burner that when set to digital playback
>stutters. This stutter sounds like static. Switching from digital to
>analog playback in the properties of Windows Media Player 9 fixed the
>problem.

This seems like an audio card problem, it wouldn't be
surprising if the stutter/static reappeared in some other
use.



>
>I recently built two identical PCs both with Sony AW-Q170A DVD burners
>and right now I'm switching between digital and analog playback. I'd
>have to say that I can't tell any difference. This is the first time
>I've tried this with these drives so I'll have to do more listening
>(with headphones).

Perhaps, but if you are directly driving the headphones from
an audio card you may have already lost some fidelity making
it harder to discern between the two. Audio cards just
aren't designed for driving much of a load with rare
exception of some (generally older) OEM oriented boards
designed to directly drive passive speakers.