Cable type for Audio Output.

Hi All,

Happy new year.
My question is regarding Audio output, I use Foobar 2000 through Windows XP to output my music, I find this software to be the best for audio.

My current setup is a Macbook Pro configured to output audio via Optical to my Sherwood receiver which is connected to a pair of Mordaunt Short Avant 902i stand mount speakers.

Currently this setup would use the DAC's on the Sherwood receiver to do the decoding, as this would not be of a high quality I have been thinking wether I should swap the optical cable for a high quality RCA cable such as the Pure AV cable linked: Belkin : PureAV™ Audio Splitter
This would then use the DAC of the realtek 885 to decode the audio and just use the receiver as an amplifier.

Wondering if anybody has had some experiance with this and can provide feedback?

Cheers

Doubt very seriously that you would be able to notice any difference in the quality of the sound. You would also eliminate the pass thru of anything but 2 channels.

A cable is a cheap enough experiment though.

bobtomay said:

Doubt very seriously that you would be able to notice any difference in the quality of the sound. You would also eliminate the pass thru of anything but 2 channels.

A cable is a cheap enough experiment though.

Click to expand...

Yes, I would think the optical cable would provide higher quality output because as bbtomay stated, the 1/8" to RCA would only output 2 channels. You could try the cable, although I dont think you will notice higher sound quality, maybe even lower. I would save up for a better receiver if you want higher quality audio playback. This also all depends on the file types you are playing. ie: 128kbps MP3's will never sound very good even through the very best receiver/speaker setups (actually usually sound worse when connected to high quality A/V equipment than other cheap A/V setups, IMO), where as apple lossless or FLAC will sound just as good as the original medium... I personally rip at 256kbps and do not notice a difference between FLAC and 256kbps MP3, others will disagree though.

Thanks guys, Should make myself a bit clearer.
This setup is only for audio output so Stereo is all i need.
I also only play Lossless FLAC's so compression wont be a factor.

I am very happy with the sound output using foobar 2000 in windows xp.
However now thinking of purchasing a USB DAC ad replacing my receiver with a vintage Harmon Kardon stereo amp i have laying about.