Audio with Optical Connections

[StateDJ85]

Right now I have 4 possible places to play a CD in my system. Yamaha cheap 5 disc changer, nice sony 400 disc changer, Yamaha CD Recorder and a Yamaha DVD player. All 4 are connected to an rx-v1400 via optical connections. First of all, does anyone know if any device will play a cd better than the others. I figured that because they dont do any decoding, it's all just about equal. I can't hear a difference. Also, is there any reason to spend money on expensive optical cables? 2 of the 4 optical cables I use are the stock ones that came with the units, and I can't hear a difference between them and the $20 acoustic research ones that connect the DVD and 400 disc players. The cables are all very short so I can't imagine there's much of a difference between cheap ones and really good ones (atleast not that I can hear). Any clue?

[shokhead]

As they are,not much diff if any. Try doing them analog and see what you think.

[paul_pci]

Boy, this topic just won't die.

If it were me, I'd go with the 400 disc player primarily just because I'm lazy. Next, there is one reason not to go picking through the WalMart bin for an optical cable, which was recently discussed on another thread, and that is you do want a cable with a solid connect so no information gets lost, for instance.

[StateDJ85]

Boy, this topic just won't die.

If it were me, I'd go with the 400 disc player primarily just because I'm lazy. Next, there is one reason not to go picking through the WalMart bin for an optical cable, which was recently discussed on another thread, and that is you do want a cable with a solid connect so no information gets lost, for instance.

Thanks for the advice, I'll look through the other posts. I tried analog and heard a difference. The receiver I just got seems to have a pretty good D/A converter.

[paul_pci]

Thanks for the advice, I'll look through the other posts. I tried analog and heard a difference. The receiver I just got seems to have a pretty good D/A converter.

Yes, when it comes to the models you listed, you might was well go with the receiver's DAC.