I've danced around this problem in other threads/posts, but I wish to know, is there an easy, effective way to manage optical inputs and outputs on any USB device without having to resort to bringing up proprietary software interfaces (like Creative audio control panel, TB Roadie proprietary menu, etc.)?

I just want to output 44.1 khz audio over toslink, and have seamless transition between multiple sources including toslink in to the sound card/DAC, and music sourced from the PC (winamp, etc.), without having to re-visit proprietary configuration software every time I want to switch inputs.