UAC1 DAC (ODAC): digital vs analog output

As discussed in What does USB DAC "Analog Output" mean?, I suspect that Analog Output means that the OS will first pass the digital stream to the inbuilt, computer DAC device (i.e. sound card), and then the analog stream will be passed on to the USB device for amplification and further to your headphones/speakers. The improvement in quality (versus the computer DAC) will be minimal, and will come only from the external DAC amplifier.

Digital Output means tha the OS fiddles not with the digital stream and passes it directly to the external DAC device for conversion to analog, amplification, and then to your headphones/speakers. The quality should be much better, and will depend on the quality of the external DAC (since the inbuilt DAC will be completely bypassed).

So for best quality you would choose the Digital Output port.

See also:

• How can I enable digital output on a FiiO E7 without ending session?.