New iMac accessories(External HD, digital audio)

[Alexia]

I'm planning a purchase of the new iMac 20" within a month. I'll need to move some of my stuff around.

Since the iMac only has digital out, what is a decent digital signal processor? I already have a 2.1 analog setup and I don't need more speakers. Creative makes a nice stand alone decoder, but I don't need up to a 7.1 setup or for that price either.(About $125)

I need two external hard drive cases, either USB 2.0 or Firewire, that support SATA drives. I can't find any of at all.

[Brad]

Hmm. I thought the headphone part of "headphone/optical digital audio output" meant it doubled as a regular analog audio jack. Or are there digital headphones now?

edit: aha! It is a dual port:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G5/iMacG5/03_Input-Output/chapter_4_section_15.html

The iMac G5 sound system supports analog recording and both digital and analog playback.

The iMac G5 sound system features a combination output jack that supports both analog headphones output and optical digital output connectivity. Since a single connector is provided to support both headphone output and optical digital output connectivity, support of the headphones output and optical digital output is mutually exclusive. Audio output port selection is automatic. When no device is inserted into the output jack, internal speakers are selected. When an optical cable is connected to the output jack, optical digital output is selected. When an analog device is connected to the output jack, the headphones output is selected. It is not possible to simultaneous select or use more than one output at a time. Encoded audio, such as AC3, can be streamed only to the optical digital audio output. A mute control for the current active output port can be accessed in the Output section of the Sound pane in the System Preferences.

[Alexia]

Hmm. I thought the headphone part of "headphone/optical digital audio output" meant it doubled as a regular analog audio jack. Or are there digital headphones now?

edit: aha! It is a dual port:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G5/iMacG5/03_Input-Output/chapter_4_section_15.html

I wasn't sure about that. :) Thanks, I'll just have to use a splitter then.