Okay you digi-know-it-alls...I was asked today if there's any difference in sound quality between running analog cables from cd player to receiver and running an optical cable from player to receiver. I didn't think it would matter really either way, but I'm not 100%sure.

The receiver is a brand new HTR-5760, and the CD player is a 5 year old Yamaha 5 disc carousel...he couldn't remember the exact model #, I'm sure it's pretty basic though.
I'm 99% confident the DAC is better in the receiver than the old cd player, but does that necessarily translate into real-world performance?

Thanks.