I recently recorded audio from cassette to my pc by using a cable with
a 3.5mm cable on both ends (I think they're called mini-jack plugs(?)
from the headphone socket of my hi-fi to the line-in socket on my pc.
I found the results to be quite acceptable.

I've now found another cable with 2 (i think they're called) RCA
connectors which plug into the back of the hi-fi in the line out
sockets.

My question is: are RCA cables considered to be better than the
mini-jack cables I used?

Many TIA.

"MG Lewis" wrote in message
om

I recently recorded audio from cassette to my pc by using a cable with
a 3.5mm cable on both ends (I think they're called mini-jack plugs(?)
from the headphone socket of my hi-fi to the line-in socket on my pc.
I found the results to be quite acceptable.

I've now found another cable with 2 (i think they're called) RCA
connectors which plug into the back of the hi-fi in the line out
sockets.

My question is: are RCA cables considered to be better than the
mini-jack cables I used?

Neither RCA plugs nor 1/8 mini-jacks are very good connectors. They're both
too fragile and tend to be unreliable.The 1/8 mini-jack is IME likely to be
the more fragile of the two. If audiophiles were really that serious about
quality connectors, they would have demanded and gotten something better,
decades ago.

That all said, if undamaged, both RCA plugs and 1/8 mini-jacks can transmit
audio signals very well. Under ideal or merely good conditions they
themselves add no measurable distortion or noise.

More significant might be the differences in the quality of the signal at
the line out jack of your receiver, as opposed to the quality of the signal
at the headphone jack. The comparison could go either way or be a dead heat
in a specific case, but line out jacks would probably win in general.

But hey, your source is a cassette tape, and that is the place where the
biggest sound quality losses are likely to be.

There is a concept in audio called "masking", and if an audio signal is bad
enough, it often takes a lot of damage to make it sound even worse.

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

Neither RCA plugs nor 1/8 mini-jacks are very good connectors. They're both
too fragile and tend to be unreliable.The 1/8 mini-jack is IME likely to be
the more fragile of the two. If audiophiles were really that serious about
quality connectors, they would have demanded and gotten something better,
decades ago.

I thought audiophiles were out of the engineering loop according to
Arny, not the arbiters of decisions about home electronics.

Stephen

"MiNE 109" wrote in message

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

Neither RCA plugs nor 1/8 mini-jacks are very good connectors.
They're both too fragile and tend to be unreliable.The 1/8 mini-jack
is IME likely to be the more fragile of the two. If audiophiles were
really that serious about quality connectors, they would have
demanded and gotten something better, decades ago.

I thought audiophiles were out of the engineering loop according to
Arny, not the arbiters of decisions about home electronics.

Every consumer is implicitly inside the engineering loop, based on his
buying decisions.

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

"MiNE 109" wrote in message

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

Neither RCA plugs nor 1/8 mini-jacks are very good connectors.
They're both too fragile and tend to be unreliable.The 1/8 mini-jack
is IME likely to be the more fragile of the two. If audiophiles were
really that serious about quality connectors, they would have
demanded and gotten something better, decades ago.

I thought audiophiles were out of the engineering loop according to
Arny, not the arbiters of decisions about home electronics.

Every consumer is implicitly inside the engineering loop, based on his
buying decisions.



That's a much larger group than "audiophiles"

Boycott RCA plugs!

Stephen

"MiNE 109" wrote in message

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

"MiNE 109" wrote in message

In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

Neither RCA plugs nor 1/8 mini-jacks are very good connectors.
They're both too fragile and tend to be unreliable.The 1/8
mini-jack is IME likely to be the more fragile of the two. If
audiophiles were really that serious about quality connectors,
they would have demanded and gotten something better, decades ago.

I thought audiophiles were out of the engineering loop according to
Arny, not the arbiters of decisions about home electronics.

Every consumer is implicitly inside the engineering loop, based on
his buying decisions.

That's a much larger group than "audiophiles"

Boycott RCA plugs!

A typical ca. 2003 consumer system has a DVD player with Toslink going to
the receiver, S-Video going to the TV and 2-conductor cable going to the
speakers. We can be RCA-free.

(MG Lewis) wrote in
om:

My question is: are RCA cables considered to be better than the
mini-jack cables I used?

Many TIA.


More durable, maybe. Sound better, no.

Tim

--

"The strongest human instinct is to impart information,
and the second strongest is to resist it."

Kenneth Graham

On 28 Oct 2003 04:27:52 -0800, (MG Lewis) wrote:

I recently recorded audio from cassette to my pc by using a cable with
a 3.5mm cable on both ends (I think they're called mini-jack plugs(?)
from the headphone socket of my hi-fi to the line-in socket on my pc.
I found the results to be quite acceptable.

I've now found another cable with 2 (i think they're called) RCA
connectors which plug into the back of the hi-fi in the line out
sockets.

My question is: are RCA cables considered to be better than the
mini-jack cables I used?

From a sound quality standpoint, both types of cables are fully
capable of passing a line level or amplified headphone stereo analog
signal without problems for your recording application. So, the
question really should be is there a difference between the line level
and amplified headphone output for your purposes.

For a receiver or amplifier output, the headphone out typically passes
through the tone and volume controls on the unit, where the line level
out doesn't. A cassette deck headphone out normally has no tone
controls, although it may have a volume control. A cassette deck line
level out may also have a volume control on the deck, but many don't.

To simplify things, I prefer to use an unmodified line level out for
your sort of application and not have to worry about adjusting tone or
volume controls and considering any noise (which may be minimal) such
controls add. If you do use an output that is varied by tone or
volume controls, then make sure you adjust those controls to the
settings you desire.

Gary E

|Gary A. Edelstein
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