3.5mm jack to jack or RCA?

[admin_exported]

Hi

I've got a Rotel RA-04 amp. It has a 3.5mm analogue in on the front and of course RCA on the back.

I've been connecting my iPhone/iPod/Airport Express to an old Monster cable RCA-3.5mm cable, which was about 20 quid a few years ago. It will go into the car in the future connected to an AUX in box in place of a CD changer for iPod in car music.

So, if I was to replace this my options seem to be a

QED j2p or j2j for about 20-30 pounds.

A Chord iChord for 35 from sight and sound (thanks Octopo) (a crimson in disguise apparently)

The profligold cables from maplin at about 20 pounds

More expensive again cables from Russ Andrews eg a Tonik mini interconnect for 40.

I'm planning on getting a IBasso D10 which also has a 3.5mm out and would want to connect this to my RA-04, prior to getting a beresford or similar at some point

So a nice 3.5 to something would seem to be a good idea, as it will get plenty of use for a while, but will there be a significant difference between the 3,5mm socket on the amp and the RCAs on the back? Also which one of the above three should I choose, is the iChord worth the extra?

thanks Gavin

 

[chebby]

My "bag of free connectors that came in a box with something but I forget what" contains both RCA->3.5mm and 3.5mm->3.5mm leads.

I borrowed youngest daughter's iPod the other day to try out the iPod 3.5mm connection on the front of my amp and also tried it plugged into a spare RCA phono set.

No difference to be honest. I picked a few tracks that I knew were 256kbps (and that I liked from her collection) and it was ok connected both ways.

Ok but not great.

256 kbps iTunes downloads on my computer - via the Beresford DAC - slaughters an iPod.

I really don't think it merits anything fancier than a basic cable that you can pick up in Maplin. (Or may have already if you too have a "bag of free connectors that come in a box with something but I forget what".)

 

[Anonymous]

thanks, chebby

ease of use then says get the 3.5 to 3.5 as it is on the front rather than scrabbling around the back

which reminds me I probably have a j2j in my own rats nest of cables under the bed

 

[Anonymous]

dug out some old black 3.5 to 3.5 and discovered that the monster cable gives a bit of a fuller sound into the RCAs on the back with a lossless track off my iPod. Obviously I'm prone to a huge experimenter effect as I'm at home alone, so no blind testing.