"I seem to recall that most Mac's let you take a digital stream of sound directly out of one of the jacks (headphone?) with a special connector."
I used the headphone/toslink connection when I used to have a Mac. Given a choice, I would probably just go USB. I didn't like the way the optical connection was set up. I remember me being on the phone arguing with apple telling them it was impossible for a headphone jack to be a toslink as well. I thought it was some kind of misprint, but I was proven wrong. You get this little adaptor and on one side of it, the toslink cable plugs in, and the other end is a mini headphone jack with a little hole at the end of it for the light to go through. When I first saw it, I couldn't stop laughing. It was a cheesy setup, but it was a pretty cleaver idea.
"Does direct digital also need reclocking?"
Not sure what you mean. USB or Optical is digital. Generally speaking, reclocking is almost always a good idea. Especially if you are using entry level equipment.
I used the headphone/toslink connection when I used to have a Mac. Given a choice, I would probably just go USB. I didn't like the way the optical connection was set up. I remember me being on the phone arguing with apple telling them it was impossible for a headphone jack to be a toslink as well. I thought it was some kind of misprint, but I was proven wrong. You get this little adaptor and on one side of it, the toslink cable plugs in, and the other end is a mini headphone jack with a little hole at the end of it for the light to go through. When I first saw it, I couldn't stop laughing. It was a cheesy setup, but it was a pretty cleaver idea.
"Does direct digital also need reclocking?"
Not sure what you mean. USB or Optical is digital. Generally speaking, reclocking is almost always a good idea. Especially if you are using entry level equipment.