Atlanta Cracker Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 What's the best way to setup a connection from PC to stereo for listening to music? Not looking for anything too fancy but it seems there are tons of options. Just curious what others use successfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 What's the best way to setup a connection from PC to stereo for listening to music? Not looking for anything too fancy but it seems there are tons of options. Just curious what others use successfully. Call me crazy... but I hook up a stereo minijack (1/8 in) to dual RCA cable from the audio out on my computer to the "Tape In" on my receiver. It's low tech, but it's the way God intended it to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanta Cracker Posted November 29, 2008 Author Share Posted November 29, 2008 Call me crazy... but I hook up a stereo minijack (1/8 in) to dual RCA cable from the audio out on my computer to the "Tape In" on my receiver. It's low tech, but it's the way God intended it to be. How is the sound quality going that route? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 How is the sound quality going that route? As good as any cable connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 What's the best way to setup a connection from PC to stereo for listening to music? Not looking for anything too fancy but it seems there are tons of options. Just curious what others use successfully. I use my XBOX 360. The music streams wirelessly across the network. Since I have the optical connection running from the XBOX, the sound is more than fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Call me crazy... but I hook up a stereo minijack (1/8 in) to dual RCA cable from the audio out on my computer to the "Tape In" on my receiver. It's low tech, but it's the way God intended it to be. FWIW, this will probably be the best quality you can get. Of course if you're playing ultra compressed MP3s then the quality of the connection really doesn't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 FWIW, this will probably be the best quality you can get. Of course if you're playing ultra compressed MP3s then the quality of the connection really doesn't matter. How about "lossless" MP3s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffraff Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Call me crazy... but I hook up a stereo minijack (1/8 in) to dual RCA cable from the audio out on my computer to the "Tape In" on my receiver. It's low tech, but it's the way God intended it to be. Same thing I do. Minijack to RCA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 (edited) How about "lossless" MP3s? There is no such thing. By definition MP3 is a lossy compression algorithm. If you want lossless music formats you can have WAV which is uncompressed or FLAC which is a lossless compression algorithm but is not supported by many devices or software yet. Edited November 30, 2008 by Kid Cid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 How about "lossless" MP3s? no such thing, but the mp3 file is probably going to be the same whether you're playing straight out of the sound card into your receiver or streaming it from your computer to something like your xbox. I'm betting most computer sound cards beat what's in an xbox though, and it's just a more direct connection with one system. I would think the answer here depends on how you have everything set up. if your computer is reasonably close to your stereo and it's convenient to control the music from your computer, go the direct connect from your soundcard to your receiver. if you're talking different rooms and you want to control it through your TV stuff, look at the wireless media server type options egret is describing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Call me crazy... but I hook up a stereo minijack (1/8 in) to dual RCA cable from the audio out on my computer to the "Tape In" on my receiver. It's low tech, but it's the way God intended it to be. But that will also broadcast any other sounds your computer makes over your stereo as well. Say, any sounds associated with using other applications or surfing pron. Apple makes a wireless device called Airport Express that sends itunes from a wireless router to anywhere in the house. From that, you can run a jack to your stereo as CEO suggests. Now, I don't know if it will work with a PC that's using itunes or not because I have a Mac. However, the nice thing about it is that it is only itunes, not every sound from your computer. So, your kid could be playing video games on the computer while everyone else is listening to tunes on the stereo. Further, if you have more than one stereo in your home, you can set up as many or as little as you'd like and turn as many or as few on at any time. For me, I just ran speaker wires under the house all over and have a 4 speaker zone hub hooked up to my stereo, so I just have one Airport Express hooked up. Works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsfan Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 But that will also broadcast any other sounds your computer makes over your stereo as well. Say, any sounds associated with using other applications or surfing pron. Apple makes a wireless device called Airport Express that sends itunes from a wireless router to anywhere in the house. From that, you can run a jack to your stereo as CEO suggests. Now, I don't know if it will work with a PC that's using itunes or not because I have a Mac. However, the nice thing about it is that it is only itunes, not every sound from your computer. So, your kid could be playing video games on the computer while everyone else is listening to tunes on the stereo. Further, if you have more than one stereo in your home, you can set up as many or as little as you'd like and turn as many or as few on at any time. For me, I just ran speaker wires under the house all over and have a 4 speaker zone hub hooked up to my stereo, so I just have one Airport Express hooked up. Works great. +1 I use it with a PC and it works great. My computer, router and stereo are in 3 separate rooms so I wanted a wireless option. Very easy to set up, and using the toslink out on the Airport Express, you get a lossless digital feed to your stereo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTed46 Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 I guess it depends on your soundcard and your receiver. If your receiver is only a stereo (Righ and Left) then I would use plain old RCA cables. When using an analog signal, the quality of the soundcard plays a role. But, in just L/R stereo signal you should be ok with any soundcard. When using a digital signal (ie, toslink) it doesnt really matter what soundcard you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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