VISTA users.

I use a USB Dac.So no need for the extra USB converter. I pick USB Audio Device as my default output device in the sound device menu. I have used in the past the Trends Audio UD-10 USB converter. It doesn't need any special drivers installed either. The PC recognizes it from the start.

The sound device menu is in the right hand corner of your screen. Just right click on the speaker icon and left click on sound devices. This will bring up the menu.

The on board HD sound card codec is good enough, to make it very difficult to hear a major sound quality difference. They do sound different, but the on board is really not all that bad.

When I feel experimental, I run a toslink and USB cable to my Dac from the PC. I can switch from USB to spdif at will.

I see. It doesn't detect my M-Audio Transit. I guess that's one problem.

I'm not familiar with that unit. Does it require a driver? If so you may need to install it. That or get a USB DAC or USB converter which is recognizable.

Too bad Vista is so expensive. I have it on my main desktop, but my music desktop is Win XP. Is Vista's handling of digital sound really that much better than the combo of XP + ASIO drivers?

M-Audio Transit drivers do not support Vista yet. Keep an eye on the m-audio website for the new drivers.