Connecting HTPC to AVR what RCA cables you are using?

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Sumerian
Sumerian Posts: 490
edited August 2013 in Going Digital
Do you guys care for the cables used between HTPC and AVR?
Is it worth spending money on cables like MIT Shotgun RCA cables?
Post edited by Sumerian on
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2013
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    Depending on your setup and associated gear, I'd think that going out via HDMI would be the best option to get 1080p video, hi-res surround audio, and let the AVR do the D/A conversion on the audio.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • Sumerian
    Sumerian Posts: 490
    edited August 2013
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    falconcry72 wrote: »
    Depending on your setup and associated gear, I'd think that going out via HDMI would be the best option to get 1080p video, hi-res surround audio, and let the AVR do the D/A conversion on the audio.


    thanks for the reply
    I have Xonar essence sound card with a decent Dac processor on it so i am using the RCA outputs to make best use of my sound card and i only use stereo mode to play songs for HTPC.
    for movies i let my TV access the HTPC via DLNA.
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2013
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    Sumerian wrote: »
    thanks for the reply
    I have Xonar essence sound card with a decent Dac processor on it so i am using the RCA outputs to make best use of my sound card and i only use stereo mode to play songs for HTPC.
    for movies i let my TV access the HTPC via DLNA.

    What kind of AVR? It will just come down to whether you like the DAC in the STX better than the DAC in the AVR.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • Sumerian
    Sumerian Posts: 490
    edited August 2013
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    falconcry72 wrote: »
    What kind of AVR? It will just come down to whether you like the DAC in the STX better than the DAC in the AVR.

    Its Onkyo TX NR 709
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2013
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    Sumerian wrote: »
    Its Onkyo TX NR 709

    I think that Onk might give your STX a run for its money in terms of DAC sound quality. You just have to try it both ways and see what sounds better to you.

    If you end up still wanting to go analog out of the HTPC, then yes you should use decent cables. I think cable quality/price should be proportionate to the rest of the system, and MIT makes good cables at varying price points.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • Sumerian
    Sumerian Posts: 490
    edited August 2013
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    falconcry72 wrote: »
    I think that Onk might give your STX a run for its money in terms of DAC sound quality. You just have to try to both ways and see what sounds better to you.

    If you end up still wanting to go analog out of the HTPC, then yes you should use decent cables. I think cable quality/price should be proportionate to the rest of the system, and MIT makes good cables at varying price points.


    The reason i prefer HTPC to play songs is i have more flexibility i use Jriver media Player to play songs.

    If i use the onboard sound card vs Onkyo playing directly via DLNA ... i can clearly tell difference SQ through Onkyo is best.
    Now the difference is negligible to none with Onkyo still having little upper hand..
    yes you are right but the flexibility to create playlist and selecting the songs wil be easier through HTPC.
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2013
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    Your STX has a digital output, and it will send a signal through both outputs simultaneously, so you can hook it up via both digital and analog at the same time. Put on some music and then swith between inputs on the AVR to see which DAC you like better.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2013
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    Sumerian wrote: »
    The reason i prefer HTPC to play songs is i have more flexibility i use Jriver media Player to play songs.

    If i use the onboard sound card vs Onkyo playing directly via DLNA ... i can clearly tell difference SQ through Onkyo is best.
    Now the difference is negligible to none with Onkyo still having little upper hand..
    yes you are right but the flexibility to create playlist and selecting the songs wil be easier through HTPC.

    You can still use the HTPC as you are now while using the digital output of the STX.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • Sumerian
    Sumerian Posts: 490
    edited August 2013
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    falconcry72 wrote: »
    Your STX has a digital output, and it will send a signal through both outputs simultaneously, so you can hook it up via both digital and analog at the same time. Put on some music and then swith between inputs on the ARV to see which DAC you like better.

    I didnt try the digital output from Sound card but i did use the digital out from on board Graphics card which didnt sound right (little shrill no smoothness).

    but if we bypass the dac on sounds card why bother for a sound card we can simply use the onboard sound card digital output and send it to receiver right?

    I think i need do a lot of trial and errors ...buy and sell lot of stuff until i find that sweet spot...
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2013
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    Sumerian wrote: »
    I didnt try the digital output from Sound card but i did use the digital out from on board Graphics card which didnt sound right (little shrill no smoothness)...

    Try it.
    but if we bypass the dac on sounds card why bother for a sound card we can simply use the onboard sound card digital output and send it to receiver right?

    Pretty much.
    I think i need do a lot of trial and errors ...buy and sell lot of stuff until i find that sweet spot...

    Yep and that's part of the fun!


    For PC audio, the connections I like are either wireless, HDMI, or USB. Digital coax or toslink audio outputs on PCs can inroduce jitter, which you experienced on your other card. The digital output on that STX is pretty good though, so that's one benefit of having a nice card even though you're not using its DAC.

    You are like me in that you like using the PC interface and media player, so wireless isn't really an option for us. If you are not satisfied with the digital output of the STX you could look into asynchronous USB>SPDIF converters.
    2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's

    Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses

    Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's
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  • Sumerian
    Sumerian Posts: 490
    edited August 2013
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    Thanks Falcon.


    yes wireless doesn't cut it for me when comes to Audio.

    i will check out your suggestions
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  • Sumerian
    Sumerian Posts: 490
    edited August 2013
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    DSkip wrote: »
    If you want, I have some MIT exp3 I can part with for cheap. Pm me if interested, I think they've been in my system a total of 30 minutes.

    Thanks for the offer
    i will let you know, planning to get the shotgun s3's ... do you have any of those?
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