On the back of the board there is an optical S/PDIF output connection.

Ok, if that's the board you have, then you have a couple of options. You'll also want to research the bitone with digital inputs to be familuar with any special funtional needs it may or may not have. It comes out of hibernation just fine for me too, but thats not as guaranteed for everyone as would a typical USB spdif converter with basic drivers. Works with Centrafuse from XP and has an excellent analog input and output stage. You also get the bonus of an analog in/out stage and a digital in. Although, a soundcard with DSP that is controlled by a CarPC frontend software will have the benefits of no zipper noise when changing the volume and will also have a soft mute. If you plan on controlling volume from the PC then I would suggest a soundcard that has an on-board DSP that can do quality volume control or use the USB to spdif converter in windows7 and control volume from the task bar (NOT the media player, unless the media player controls the windows volume slider directly). If so, then you'll have to shop around for a bit. They are all really going to sound exactly the same though, unless you are someone that can hear the difference in cables and amps that aren't overdriven. Musical Fidelity V-Link USB-S/PDIF converter | If you wanna splurge little, there's this one: Assuming you don't need to do master volume control from the PC and will be doing it at the Bitone. All you really need then is a USB to S/PDIF converter.

Asus m4a88t m sound card issue