Paul posted:

SPDIF:

Thank you for showing the pictures.

On the back of the desktop I found near the motherboard a connector that
looks the same only with a white covering cap, labeled "Optical Audio Out".

I was surprised it wasn't anywhere near the Nvidia GeForce 210 graphics
card where it must come with the motherboard.


The Speaker Out on a high power stereo, would likely
have sufficient amplitude to destroy the SPDIF-In on
your AV receiver, if connecting the cable to the wrong holes.

I am not an audiophile so I'm only using the "green" connector.

There are six different "headphone like" audio jacks on the back.
Blue, green, and red in the top row.
Brown, black, and grey in the bottom row.

I connected separate powered speakers only to the green audio out jack.

When computers first got "digital audio", it was just
that RCA connector.

I think you explained the three software selections
[1] E2341 (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)
[2] Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
[3] Digital Audio (S/PDIF)(High Definition Audio Device)

[1] audio out from the computer through hdmi to the monitor headphone jack
[2] audio out from the computer through the green jack to powered speakers
[3] unused "optical audio out" which I don't think I will ever need to use

I think I'm all set now with the $7 hdmi cable & the software controls!
Thank you for your help!