Distortion from 3.5mm to Phono cable

[FifeBen]

Hi guys

I am using a gold-plated "3.5mm jack to dual Phono" cable to hook up my PC (iTunes etc.) to my analogue Denon PMA720AE amp, but am notng some distortion in sound quality.

Am I right in thinking that I really need to go digital to improve things? I need to upgrade my PC anyway, so am thinking that a new PC with digital audio output, together with a DAC for the Denon analogue amp should solve the problem.

What do you think?

Thanks, Ben

 

[ID.]

Hi guys

I am using a gold-plated "3.5mm jack to dual Phono" cable to hook up my PC (iTunes etc.) to my analogue Denon PMA720AE amp, but am notng some distortion in sound quality.

Am I right in thinking that I really need to go digital to improve things? I need to upgrade my PC anyway, so am thinking that a new PC with digital audio output, together with a DAC for the Denon analogue amp should solve the problem.

What do you think?

Thanks, Ben

I'd say the problem is with the poor quality phono output on the computer itself, but it may also be transmitting electronic noise from in the computer.

You know you can get USB DACs so you could use the USB on your current computer (or new computer without optical output). When implemented properly they should both isolate against noise and ideally be asynchronous to eliminate jitter.

 

[davedotco]

It is virtually impossible for a cable of this type to produce audible distortion.

You either do not have the output levels set correctly on your pc or something else in settings is causing an overload. You might be overdrivind the Denon, but this would be pretty obvious as the volume would be very loud at low settings of the volume control.

Otherwise you simply have a very naff sound card, simplest solution is a cheap but good usb dac such as the £25 Behringer UCA202. This will bypass your soundcard entirely and effectively give you direct access to your sound files.

 

[FifeBen]

Many thanks for that, davedotco and ID.

Now that you mention it, the soundcard could well be the issue here. I'll upgrade the PC first anyway (with a decent card), and then go for the DAC if things don't improve sufficiently.

Cheers, Ben

 

[davedotco]

Your money, your choice of course but if you want to keep it simple the UCA202 is just £25, Google it.

An onboard sound card with comparable audio will probably cost 3-4 times that.

 

[MajorFubar]

By all means replace your PC if the urge to do so is an itch that's not going away, but in terms of audio you'd be better off buying an extenal USB DAC to use with your existing PC. Off-the-shelf pre-bult PCs and laptops commonly do not have good quality audio hardware. They might have pretty numbers saying they can play 24bit 96kHz/192kHz hi-res files, because any key phrases to do with hi-res audio are this season's buzz-words, but by and large their sound cards are still going to sound shite. Therefore even if you bought a new PC. you'd still almost certainly be better off using it with an external USB DAC.

 

[FifeBen]

Yes, davedotco and MajorFubar, I take your point entirely. I do need a new PC anyway, and will do this shortly. But I will also get a UCA202 too.

Thanks again for your help - you've saved me a lot of time.

Cheers, Ben