2. cables
  3. 119296-70389

Which connection: RCA, XLR, COAX, OPTICAL?

Hi again good people on Audiogon, I have little experience with this, so would you be so kind to give me some advice? I did read about it around the web, but opinions are somewhat contradicting and confusing, at least to me. I’m in a process of changing most of my system. I have no possibilities to try-out different cables.

I need to decide how to connect a CD player and a Blu-ray player to integrated amp (with built-in DAC) and to head-amp (with built-in DAC).
I expect (probably) to have these options:

- amplifier (with DAC) inputs: 1 XLR, 2 analog RCA, 1 coaxial, 1 optical toslink;
- head-amp (with DAC) inputs: 1 coaxial, 1 optical toslink;
- CD player outputs: 1 XLR, 1 analog RCA, 1 coaxial, 1 optical toslink;
- Blu-ray player outputs: 1 analog RCA, 1 coaxial, 1 optical toslink.

All cables will be between 0.4 and 1 meter, always as short as possible.
Regarding the quality of DACs in these 4 devices, it’s much more probable that DACs in amplifiers will be better than DAC in CD player, but let’s also consider the opposite case too, where the DAC from CD player is of equal or better quality. (DAC of Blu-ray player will be of lower quality for sure.)

Which type of connection would you recommend for each one of these 4 connections (CD-amp, CD-headamp, BLU-amp, BLU-headamp)?
Would your recommendations differ for CD player, based on the quality of its internal DAC, its inferiority or superiority to the amp’s built-in DAC?

THANK YOU SO MUCH :)
audiosonicsound

Showing 8 responses by audiosonicsound

audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
Wow, almargh, thank you very much for your effort!
XLR is analog, but a picture is worth a thousand words:
http://www.gato-audio.com/images/DIA-250_3.jpg
- that will be my new integrated amp, most likely!
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
Thanks! So, the safest bet would be optical?
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
Also, I think I will go for different head-amp, the one which has only one analog RCA input, so I will feed it from the integrated amp. That way I will have less cables and less complications.
So you can ignore the questions related to connection between players and head-amp.
All that matters is in which one of the 4 inputs should a CD player go (XLR, RCA, coax or toslink), and in which one should Blu-ray player go (RCA, coax or toslink).
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
ethernet-to-S/PDIF converter - something like this?

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/simple-design-rendu-ethernet-to-spdif-converter/
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
Thanks!
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
almarg, you seem really knowledgeable about this, so just one more question, please.

To get audio signal from computer to amplifier across the legth of 6 meters / 20 feet - what would be the best connection?

You can see above the inputs on that Gato Audio amplifier. My computer has USB and optical toslink outputs. It doesn't have coaxial, but if by any chance coaxial would be better than USB or optical, I could change the soundboard to have coaxial output compatible with that coaxial input of Gato amp.
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
* I meant SOUND CARD, not "soundboard"

Also, I didn't mention analog RCA because I tought it won't be a good choice for 6 meters length, but it may still be ok? For computer, audiophile quality is not so much important, because CD player is my primary source for listening.
audiosonicsound OP
32 posts
 
Man, you are a wealth of informations!
But there is one catch which I didn't mention. That length, several meters, runs underground. I put plastic pipes under my wooden floor many years ago, for a situation like this. That cable, to get a signal from PC to amplifier, has to run through the pipe, so it can't be something with massive connectors. I'll try with optical cable first, and if that proves fine, that's it.
But thanks a lot, I learned about some options and things I knew nothing about, that might be useful sometimes somewhere.
All the best to you!
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