I have an I-River and want to compress CD tracks to mp3 from the purest source hoping to get the best quality at a given bit rate.

I've two options, convert using WinAmp on a Sony Viao laptop or recording opticaly from a decent Rotel CD player using a digital to optical signal convertor and letting the I-River convert the signal into mp3.

Because there's no digital to analogue conversion, will either the CD player/I-River or the laptop convert the ones and zeros to mp3 in a superior manner?

Will it make any difference?

Dave