So, I'm OK? I have a toslink connection to my Mac-mini.

This same guy explained further:

[q]If your sample rate is say 44.1kHz, this means that 44,100 times a second your analogue to digital converter (ADC) is measuring and digitising the incoming waveform. Each of these measuring points is called a Sample Point. In an ideal world, these 44,100 sample points would be spaced perfectly evenly per second. Unfortunately in the world, a perfect clocking design does not exist. The difference between a theoretically perfect clock design and the real world performance of a clock in an ADC is called Jitter and is often measured in Pico Seconds (ps). There has been a fair amount of research and debate about the perceptual effects of jitter and there is some evidence to suggest that even jitter in the nano-second (billionths of a second) range can be perceived as a loss of sound quality. Converter (and other digital audio equipment) manufacturers therefore go to considerable lengths to design elaborate clocking systems to reduce jitter. To give you an example, the most extreme clocking system for audio I know of is made by Antelope and employs an internally refrigerated rubidium (atomic) clock!

In other words, a fair percentage of the money you spent on your converter paid for a professional grade internal clock. You have now effectively bypassed that professional grade clock and replaced it with the consumer grade clock in your Mac, which probably cost about $5!

One last point (as a by the way), there are a number of different points within the clocking systems employed by manufacturers where jitter can be measured. Unfortunately, there is no agreed standard of where exactly in the system jitter should be measured. This means, as a general rule, that you cannot compare one manufacturer's jitter specifications with another which makes the publication and advertising of jitter specifications pretty much useless![/q]