I have a Plextor PX-708A DVD/CD unit installed in my PC. This unit has a SPDIF-Out 2-pin connector which the manual suggests connecting to a sound board that supports SPDIF In.

The A7N8X-Deluxe has a 6-pin SPDIF connector with the following pins:

1 - SPDIF-In
2 - Ground
3 - +5v
4 - not used
5 - SPDIF-Out
6 - Ground

I would like to connect the PX-708A to the motherboard via the SPFIF connection since I believe that I would avoid having my system convert an analog audio signal (if I connect it via the analog cable) to digital out. However, I am not sure this makes sense or can be done... Can I simply connect the PX-708A's digital out to the pins 1 & 2 (above)? Is there a special cable that I need? Will this provide better digital sound output? Will the SPDIF connector on the back panel carry the digital signal?

You don't need to connect anything. Your DVD software and Windows XP should be able to send SPDIF out from the motherboard connector without hooking that cable to your DVD drive. I have no sound cable to my drive, either analog or SPDIF, just the IDE cable. For CD audio you'll need to enable digital CD audio for the drive in device manager under properties for your CD/DVD drive.

Okay... now I'm really getting confused... I agree that I do get sound (through headphones because I don't have a speaker system yet) with the IDE cable connection... but then what are the two connectors (digital-SPDIF & analog) at the back of the DVD player for? Does the IDE cable pass-thru a digital signal or is analog that has to be converted?

I am really only looking for an understanding....

If I recall, some older soundcards had a SPDIF passthrough for DVD and the analog Cable is no longer necessary since Win2k(sp2?), WinXP and WinNT (sp6?).