can someone please explain spdif? i have an optical port in my headphone socket. is it better quality?

but when i use it, there is always a delay between the sound starting and it coming on my speakers

You can change the settings from in windows between 'digital out' and 'analog out'. The difference is that dig out will only output when there is sound and so gives a slight delay. Ana out will always output whats going through the sound card. If your card is poorly insulated, then this can result in other noises coming over the speakers.