[letssgoooo]

yo
 
so this is one of my setups that I want to upgrade, not budget but not really audiophile either:
 
Foobar2k ---> ASIO output ---> motherboard's 3.5mm out on back ---> male to male 3.5  ---> FiiO E17 ---> stock D600 cable ---> Denon AH-D600
 
-My next upgrade is cables
-After that I'll buy an amp and use the e17 as a dac
 
So as part of my cable upgrade, I want to replace
motherboard's 3.5mm out on back ---> male to male 3.5  ---> FiiO E17
-with-
motherboard's optical out ---> FiiO E17.
 
 
from what I've read this will bypass this and that, let me use 24bit 192K, blah blah blah ---> stuff sounds better.
 
however, I want a hi-fi cable, some silver or something.
DIY is not an option, I have no idea what I'm doing.
 
currently looking at the offerings of ALO audio, but I don't know what to look for. I also saw some nice USB cables that maybe I should use? help pls.
 
-----
TL;DL: (or if you read the above read this too)
-I need a hi-fi optical cable. tell me pls.
-if there is something better I should use instead of optical like USB or S/PDIF, tell me pls.
-if I would benefit more by upgrading something else, tell me pls.
-it's really not that long you should read it .-.
-----
 
thanks for any help in advance guys, I appreciate you all and the work you do here.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

so this is one of my setups that I want to upgrade, not budget but not really audiophile either:
Foobar2k ---> ASIO output ---> motherboard's 3.5mm out on back ---> male to male 3.5  ---> FiiO E17 ---> stock D600 cable ---> Denon AH-D600
-My next upgrade is cables
-After that I'll buy an amp and use the e17 as a dac
So as part of my cable upgrade, I want to replace
motherboard's 3.5mm out on back ---> male to male 3.5  ---> FiiO E17
-with-motherboard's optical out ---> FiiO E17.
from what I've read this will bypass this and that, let me use 24bit 192K, blah blah blah ---> stuff sounds better.
however, I want a hi-fi cable, some silver or something.
DIY is not an option, I have no idea what I'm doing.
currently looking at the offerings of ALO audio, but I don't know what to look for. I also saw some nice USB cables that maybe I should use? help pls.
TL;DL: (or if you read the above read this too)
-I need a hi-fi optical cable. tell me pls.
-if there is something better I should use instead of optical like USB or S/PDIF, tell me pls.
-if I would benefit more by upgrading something else, tell me pls.
-it's really not that long you should read it .-.
-thanks for any help in advance guys, I appreciate you all and the work you do here.

You can get a "Premium" optical cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229
 
Make sure you've updated to the latest version of the audio driver/software for your motherboard.
 
Is this setup for music audio only? movies? gaming?

 

[letssgoooo]

Quote:

You can get a "Premium" optical cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229
 
Make sure you've updated to the latest version of the audio driver/software for your motherboard.
 
Is this setup for music audio only? movies? gaming?

 
this is my gaming rig setup, little to no movies, a lot of gaming, and I usually play music in the background when playing. no need to list specs I don't think, but the motherboard is GA-990FXA-UD5.
 
also, this is my portable setup as well, as I have a FiiO LOD (iphone ---> L9 ---> E17 ---> D600).
 
those cables look fine, better than others I've seen. how do I find out if my motherboard and the E17 are 5mm or 8mm?

 

[Mad Max]

The 5mm connection will resemble a 3.5mm stereo TRS connection.  The other one, well, you can't mistake it for anything else. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

 
this is my gaming rig setup, little to no movies, a lot of gaming, and I usually play music in the background when playing. no need to list specs I don't think, but the motherboard is GA-990FXA-UD5.
 
also, this is my portable setup as well, as I have a FiiO LOD (iphone ---> L9 ---> E17 ---> D600).
 
those cables look fine, better than others I've seen. how do I find out if my motherboard and the E17 are 5mm or 8mm?

The 5mm and 8mm both use the same standard "toslink" optical connection, 5mm and 8mm is just the thickness of the cable.
So both cables would easily plug into your motherboard's (toslink) optical connection.
The cable at the bottom of the list, the Toslink to 3.5mm, is for sound card that use one 3.5mm jack as both analog output and optical output.
Bot most audio optical connections use the "toslink" type connector

 

[letssgoooo]

sounds great then.
 
one last thing, is there anything I should use aside from optical that would be better? if I'm correct, it's just as good if not better than USB...

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

sounds great then.
 
one last thing, is there anything I should use aside from optical that would be better? if I'm correct, it's just as good if not better than USB...

Using the S/PDIF (Toslink optical or coaxial) output on the motherboard will allow you to use the features of the motherboard's built in audio, like any surround sound features.
USB bypasses most of the features of the built in audio, but if all you were doing is music, then USB is fine.
 
USB verses S/PDIF, audio quality wise, I'm sure there are several "heated" discussions on that subject.