Yes, that's exactly it. It's counter intuitive. For an explanation see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzoqEb2KMk&feature=youtu.be
This is a good explanation of how poor digital signal integrity can cause uncorrectable errors in playback. It has nothing to do with "analog". all signals are indeed analog, but this is about signal integrity and noise.
The fact is that most digital cable connections using S/PDIF experience very low error rates. If you have bad ground-loops and very poor cabling of long or very short lengths, it might happen though. The best rule of thumb is to use 1.25-1.5m long cabling if high-quality (low loss and low dielectric absorption). Always use coax terminated in BNC connectors with 75 ohm RCA adapters as needed. See this white-paper I wrote years ago:
https://positive-feedback.com/Issue14/spdif.htm
Steve N.
Empirical Audio