PC to Integreated Amp Dedicated Card or not?


If I have some quality audio files on my PC (say, .WAV files), and I want to route the signal to an office system (in my case driven by an Arcam FMJ A22), would the built in audio capabilities of my MOBO (Soundblaster LIVE!, I believe) do an adequate job, presuming that I had a cord for mini jack to RCA of adequate length? Or should I look into a dedicated card with RCA outputs? The problem is, most dedicated cards are well overdesigned for what I am looking for.

This is really just for kicks. Most of the time, I will be using the CD player directly. But I thought it might be nice to rip a bunch of tunes to the hard drive, select random play and send them over to the stereo system.

Just curious, Tom.

P.S.
If I can get by with just my on-board sound, does anyone have a suggestion for a cable to accomplish this hookup? I am looking at a pretty long run, probably 30'.
tombowlus

Showing 1 response by tombowlus

"That's all, Todd"

I'd say that's plenty! ;^] Actually, you have given me quite a few number of ideas. Thanks for the tip on WMA's. I have noticed that while WAV files sound pretty good, they are huge. Since my primary concern here at the office is just getting from one PC to my Arcam integrated, I will probably just have a custom mini jack to dual RCA cable made up. But, around the home, the FM transmitter idea is pretty good. I am also considering one of the higher end portable music players (I hate to call them MP3 players, because I don't want to play MP3's). The iPod would be nice, but it only seems to support the higher resolution formats in an Apple OS environment.

But for now, I think a big old cord is going to do me. And keep in mind, the great majority of my listening is going to be directly from CDs. Just sometimes, it's more convenient to have tunes on the PC, and this is going to be background music when I working, anyway.

Thanks again, Tom.