[Sound N00b]

I will be buying my first actual amp (a jds labs atom) but need time to save up for a dac, I have a gigabyte GA-Z170M-D3H (I forget which rev, thinking 1.1) motherboard. RCA jacks are a new thing to me so I don't really know how to set them up but I heard they have a better crosstalk performance than 3.5 mm. Is there anyway to get rca into a desktop which doesn't have it (I don't think it does at least) or should I just plug in a male to male 3.5 mm jack into my desktop? Does the 3.5mm jack just go into any headphone slot in the mobo? Anything special to do?

 

[Monsterzero]

Get a 3.5 to RCA cable,something like this

 

[Sound N00b]

Get a 3.5 to RCA cable,something like this

Does the conversion negate any possible positive benefits of rca?

 

[Monsterzero]

Im not sure to be honest. Using your mobo as a source is a stop gap solution until such a time as you can afford a proper DAC. The sound quality isnt going to be as good as a DAC regardless of which way you connect the amp,though I dont see any other way to connect the Atom w/o using the RCA inputs.

FWIW the cable I linked was on Amazon for like 9 dollars. For whatever reason its re-directing to a Walmart product that is silly expensive for such a simple cable. Search on Amazon,or whichever source you use and type "3.5 to RCA cable".

 

[PurpleAngel]

I will be buying my first actual amp (a jds labs atom) but need time to save up for a dac, I have a gigabyte GA-Z170M-D3H (I forget which rev, thinking 1.1) motherboard. RCA jacks are a new thing to me so I don't really know how to set them up but I heard they have a better crosstalk performance than 3.5 mm. Is there anyway to get rca into a desktop which doesn't have it (I don't think it does at least) or should I just plug in a male to male 3.5 mm jack into my desktop? Does the 3.5mm jack just go into any headphone slot in the mobo? Anything special to do?

In these situations, I doubt you would notice any difference, audio quality wise, between using the Atom's RCA line-input or the Atom's 3.5mm (1/8") line-input.
I think the more important advantage of RCA, in this situation, is the RCA jack being more robust.

If you need to use the sound card features, then at a later date, get a DAC with an optical input connection.
https://hifimediy.com/SPDIF-9018-DAC
Otherwise you can use a USB DAC (at a later date?)
https://hifimediy.com/sabre-dac-uae23

 

[PurpleAngel]

Does the conversion negate any possible positive benefits of rca?

I doubt there would be any noticeable improvement, 3.5mm input vs RCA input.