I have read the Central manual on Rio's site, and have searched the BBS here and haven't been able to find answers, so I'll try here.

What is the Optical Output port for? Is this a TosLink port? Can I use the internal drive in play-only mode and have the output come out the optical port to my outboard DAC? I would prefer not to be limited to the analog outputs only.

Although Tony already answered (thanks for the off-line answers, Tony!), I'll ask the forum in general about backing up the Central over the USB port. I don't really want to hang onto the CDs I put in the Rio...I'm too short on space as it is. Once ripped, I would want to make a backup onto a server or the like in the event of a Rio failure. Since I've already replaced two hard drives in my home computers this year, I am a realist. Is anyone backing up this way? How is the performance? Did you write a Linux script to automate the process? Any words of wisdom are appreciated.

TIA,
Walt

No, I'm not backing up...I consider the CD the backup as well as the license to own the music. I can buy a lot more cd's for the amount of money it would cost to backup the mp3's to a hard drive.

However, if you did backup via the usb port I can imagine that it would take forever...

What is the optical output for? Well, not sure of all the technical terminology you used but it's actually kind of simple.... the optical digital out goes to the optical digital input on your receiver. It's my understanding that by using the optical out you will get zero noise when going to an optical in on a receiver.

Later...