Optical audio vs 3.5mm M to 2 RCA

[tyloriusmaximus]

right now i have an optical audio cable going from my computer to receiver (dedicated sound card). i am wondering if i used 3 3.5mm M to 2 RCA cables. would using these give me a better surround effect and have greater sound quality. Also i am running them over a 50ft cable would that reduce quality over ether cable

 

[ssddx]

two rca cables (red+white) give stereo only... so i think that answers your question.

any surround sound you would hear would be faked by the receiver.

optical is capable of transmitting compressed surround sound digitally to the receiver.

the best possible output would be by hdmi and then using hdmi passthrough and connecting your monitor up to the receiver output however this doesnt fit all setups.

 

[tyloriusmaximus]

two rca cables (red+white) give stereo only... so i think that answers your question.

any surround sound you would hear would be faked by the receiver.

optical is capable of transmitting compressed surround sound digitally to the receiver.

the best possible output would be by hdmi and then using hdmi passthrough and connecting your monitor up to the receiver output however this doesnt fit all setups.

i understand that it only carries 2 channels but i can use 3 separate cables as my sound hard has 3

 

[ssddx]

yes... sound cards do have 3 for 5.1 however you will be connecting up to the receiver with two (red+white) correct?

or were you going to get some sort of adapter like 3.5mm pc audio to spdif optical? in which case its not going to be an improvement.

if you want more clarification you need to state your intentions

 

[tyloriusmaximus]

yes... sound cards do have 3 for 5.1 however you will be connecting up to the receiver with two (red+white) correct?

or were you going to get some sort of adapter like 3.5mm pc audio to spdif optical? in which case its not going to be an improvement.

if you want more clarification you need to state your intentions

yea the red and white connectors

 

[ssddx]

yeah... thats not going to work how you want it to. R+W rca = stereo only and would go down to a single 3.5mm cable (the headphone jack)

 

[tyloriusmaximus]

yeah... thats not going to work how you want it to. R+W rca = stereo only and would go down to a single 3.5mm cable (the headphone jack)

Why can i not use them, on my receiver it has room for 3 red and 3 white to plug in for one setup. my sound card supports 5.1 and i should be able to send 2 channels through a 3.5mm jack and 1 per 2rca. (a 2rca cable is red and white on one end and 3.5mm on the other)

 

[ssddx]

what model receiver?