[Brumagician99]

Hi there,
 
As the title suggests,
 
To not be so confusing, let me put it as simple as possible.
 
I wanted to check whether my cd player on laptop with my new foobar and wasapi is better than my 12 year old technics cd player at playing the same cd in SQ terms. i want to play the laptop through the amp, plug the headphones (Grado sr80i) into the amp.
 
I have a line out jack, simple 3.5mm jack and the other end is phono 2x,
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/5957 like this.
 
the lineout jack on the laptop is also an optical out if i wish.
 
Any improvements on this? My amp only accepts phono as its old
 
I have a technics cd player which has a possibility of optical in, and the amp and the cd player are usually connected by 2x 2x phono interconnect like this one..
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/6250
 
In basic terms, which interconnect should i be using from Laptop>amp. or laptop>cdplayer (only optical input)>amp a possibility? 
 
Thanks

 

[Brumagician99]

Bump

 

[HeatFan12]

Well to keep it simple, buy a DAC.  I don't know if you are willing to spend any money in this comparison but to compare a CDP to onboard sound is really not fair.  With a DAC, you can compare the DAC in the CDP and your outboard one.

 

[Brumagician99]

Scrap this whole thread I have no idea what I was thinking,
 
It was an awful idea in SQ terms as I tested it yesterday via line out from Laptop>marantz 1072>sr80i... Its the last time i ever use a standard 3.5mm line out, ever..
 
it was embarassingly poor

 

[Brumagician99]

Thanks for the advice man
 
 
 
 
since then i have ordered a LD MKIII and Audiolab 8000CDE thinking of getting a chord cobra phono to phono too!