I’m sure you’ve spent a lot of time trying different things, this is what I found:

• In Linux Mint’s sound settings (Applications -> Preferences -> Sound), under the Hardware tab, choose a profile that does NOT mention anything digital or IEC. For example, select “Analog Stereo Duplex.” This can help PulseAudio avoid blocking the digital output and allow passthrough to work properly through ALSA.

• Use alsamixer in a terminal to select the motherboard’s sound device and ensure SPDIF outputs are enabled and not muted. Sometimes SPDIF is muted by default.

• In terminal, run gstreamer-properties and set Default Output to ALSA with the digital device as the output. This bypasses PulseAudio and can solve passthrough issues.

Not actually sure if any of that will help, but I tried. 😂

Realistically it’s mostly about compatibility and cost. It’s common to have the mentality of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” even when optimizations would improve efficiency and reduce costs in the long term. If you can’t justify the cost to transition, and clearly demonstrate the time/cost savings, then executives will not give a single shit.

What hoops? Installing the NVIDIA drivers is pretty straight forward.

What (simple) audio setup? Does it rely on proprietary software?

The only thing a beginner needs to know is Linux Mint. I think any time anyone shows curiosity in trying Linux, it should be stressed that there’s a really simple and “safe” way to start, which would be through Linux Mint.

Linux has only become much more user friendly in about the past 5 years. Installing Linux Mint in my experience was actually easier than Windows. It comes down to education and the misconception that using Linux is somehow more difficult than Windows or iOS. The hard truth is if someone is using Windows or iOS they are probably just too lazy to switch as long as it does what they need they don’t care if they’re being burdened with bloatware or spied on.

Linux Mint because it’s extremely simple and has caused me no issues for over a year. It’s the best distribution to get someone who is afraid to switch from Windows or MacOS to understand that using Linux can be just as easy.