Analog or Digital ??

[thaii]

I have a Marantz SR7300. It's connected to my soundcard of my pc (creative elite pro, very expensive) with an analog connection. (red-white cable)
Now i was wondering, if I go digital, will I hear a lot of difference in sound quality?? Soms say yes, some say no..

thanx!

[02audionoob]

Is there any reason you couldn't just try it and judge for yourself?

[thaii]

Yup, the money, if I want to go digital, I want to buy a good (i think expensive) cable. So don't know if it's worth it.

[E-Stat]

I have a Marantz SR7300. It's connected to my soundcard of my pc (creative elite pro, very expensive) with an analog connection. (red-white cable)
Now i was wondering, if I go digital, will I hear a lot of difference in sound quality?? Soms say yes, some say no..

No. Using two dollar analog cables with a $300 DAC vs. a digital connection to a six year old $800 receiver will not be much different. You can always invest ten bucks and find out for yourself.

rw

[poppachubby]

I would just go with whatever suits your set-up or preferences best. For example, if you want vinyl, then use the analog in from your phono source. If you dig CD, use the players optical out to your comp.

I own a Creative Audigy Platinum, and I use both.

[rob_a]

When transporting a Digital signal, a GOOD cable will pass 99.9% of the information just fine. If you’re looking for a good cable that is not extremely overpriced, Emotiva has a couple to look at and if they are too expensive then hit partsexpress.com, monoprice.com. Even monster cable, Amazon is the place to get them.

[markw]

Assuning about 3' or so, any video or audio cable will pass a digital signal and I picked up a 3' toslink at Sears for $3.00.

They ain't fancy but should quench a curious cat's thirst.

[Mr Peabody]

If it helps your decision any when using the analog connection the digital to analog conversion is done by the sound card, if you use a digital connection the conversion will be done inside the receiver. So any idea which might have the best DAC? Another thing to consider is content. Using analog rules out 5.1 if you watch movies or listen to multichannel music. You can still get some 5 channel DSP modes like Pro Logic 2 "music" but the digital connection is definitely the way to go for 5.1.

[02audionoob]

Yup, the money, if I want to go digital, I want to buy a good (i think expensive) cable. So don't know if it's worth it.

It's too close to call. If you don't need 5.1 and you don't want to risk the cost of cables, I say there's no difference worth pursuing.

[thaii]

Okay, thanks for all the advice!

I bought a cable (24€) and tested it with my Rotel rcd1072 cd-player. But I don't hear a (big) difference.

Maybe digital cables are recommended if you're using a very long analog cable (+5m) due to signal loss? But I only need 1m so..

I also don't use 5.1, only stereo.

[Mr Peabody]

What did you hook the Rotel up to? Did you compare the digital to analog hook up?

If you connected the Rotel to your receiver there should have been some sound difference. When using a digital connection the decoding is done by the receiver, when using analog the Rotel would have done the decoding, I would think there would have been some difference. It could depend on the quality of your speakers and if the receiver has a "direct" mode for using the analog. "Direct" should bypass any internal processing of your receiver and allow a more pure signal through the receiver for analog.

[thaii]

Maybe some difference yes..
Rotel to Marantz sr7300, with pure direct mode on..

[Mr Peabody]

Just my guess but if the Rotel is fairly new I'd think the analog connection would yield better sound quality. Better cables there may improve things over the stock in the box set.