Can't get sound working on x-mystique

[coolclayton]

Hi, I'm a first-time Linux user who is trying to get Ubuntu working for the first time. I've been spending a bit of time the past week getting things working, but I haven't been able to get sound working. I've spent so much time with it, I don't even know where I'm at now.

I'm trying to use Alsa to get my x-mystique card working through my optical connection. I was having problems earlier because the default sound device was my onboard sound card... but I think I've fixed that now and it is set to use my x-mystique card. But I still can't get any sound from the speakers. I don't know whether I've screwed something up somewhere along the lines, whether I'm still using the onboard card, or its just not outputting sound through the optical connection.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[coolclayton]

I should also mention that in alsamixer, all of the IEC958 items are unmuted, but they show 00 for the volume and won't go up and down.