Sound Cards

Okay, I found one post, which was on similar lines to what I was after, but no one had answered him, so I guess I shouldn't hold my hopes up too high.

I've heard that most computer sound cards only put audio out at 128kbs, which would mean that ripping mp3s at 320 or even 192 is pointless, not to mention listening to the CD. Is this the case with the default apple sound card (chip or whatever it is)? I'm using the first gen MacBook with a core duo (not the core2). Now if it is the case that the built in sound only puts audio out at 128 then what 3rd party external (usb?) sound cards would people recommend?

What about other technical specs of the system, +/- Db, frequency range etc?

Macbooks are capable of outputting to an optical connection, so we should be able to deduce that there is a certain level of quality in the audio. Now I don't know for sure exact technical specs, but if I were to take a guess, it would be much higher than 128kbs.

I did some searching and couldn't find anything more detailed than what you find on Apple's website. Perhaps somebody else will have some more luck.

is there a spdif optical output on a macbook-pro?
where are the control screens for this functionality?

i have a crative dds100 decoder to 5.1 sound

Yes, you can output digital audio from a Macbook. You just need to get one of those 3.5mm to digital audio (toslink) cables.

-i have the cable and a system already running on an old xp portable (giga speakers).
-no luv looking for the control screens, am i missing some software. dont see the red laser lite from the earphone jack either, so it needs to be turned on enabled or its only on the input microphone jack?

macbook-pro 10.5.2

reference
creative ddts-100 5.1 decoder + giga speakers
mac book pro + 10.5.2

i got around to connecting the mac to the above via an optical cable. fyi the cable looks like a standard 3mm audio connector at one end and plugs into the macbook pro earphone jack.

i got functional sound but difficult to tell what. i am unable to find any control screens for the 5.1 audio

has anyone done this?

any computer as far as i know...since it is capable of multimedia & plays audio cds is capable of a minimum of 16bit 44100khz audio...this is cd quality audio which is way better than any mp3 even at 320kbps...
16bit 41000khz is a pcm wave file...it is uncompressed...& mp3 is highly compressed...
so get higher bitrate mp3s....they will sound much closer to what the final mix was meant to sound like when made...