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HDMI vs RCA: Is there a difference in audio quality?

post #1 of 6
2/22/13 at 4:52pm
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I'm thinking about hooking up my PS3 to my PC monitor via HDMI, and my PC speakers via RCA through my sound card. Will my audio quality suffer at all when using an RCA cable though? Is there a difference in quality when compared to HDMI?
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post #2 of 6
2/22/13 at 6:11pm
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I actually prefer RCA cables (of good quality of course), opposed to HDMI.
From my experience HDMI give a noticeable loss in quality on certain setups, and perhaps most annoying is an electric "hum" I can hear on many setups. Of course there are good ones with HDMI too, but I will use RCA as much as I can smile.gif
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post #3 of 6
2/22/13 at 6:57pm
I've also had problems with HDMI in the past too, and worse audio quality IMO. RCA is still good, though if it's possible I'd use the optical out on your PS3 instead it's the best possible sound these days really, that or Digital out... But RCA is the better of the two in my opinion.
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post #4 of 6
2/22/13 at 7:03pm
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It depends on the setup. For small spaces 1 hdmi cable is nice for video and audio. Also since hdmi in HD sound you have to configure it when using it on a computer (all depends on drivers) my asus board has driver software that helped a lot by just enabling some features.
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post #5 of 6
2/22/13 at 7:10pm
Since HDMI is a digital signal, the audio won't be affected by the quality of the signal or the cable. However, the quality of the encoding isn't all that great.

RCA is an analog signal, and thus depends on the quality of the electrical signal and therefore the quality of the cable. if you have a superior cable like a nicely shielded copper or gold plated cable it will be superior to HDMI.

In the perfect scenario, Analog is always superior to digital. However, RCA requires a nice cable to transmit the signal with low loss and interference.

Are you sure you can't try using s/pdif (optical out) instead? It would avoid both problems.
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post #6 of 6
2/22/13 at 8:30pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregory121295 View Post

Are you sure you can't try using s/pdif (optical out) instead? It would avoid both problems.

No idea. This is the sound card I'm using. Apparently it has an OPT IN/OPT OUT where the RCA from the PS3 plugs in. Would I be able to connect an optical cable from my PS3 into there?

EDIT: Also, this is probably a stupid question, but do I plug it into OPT IN or OPT OUT on my sound card?
Edited by nekroturkey - 2/22/13 at 8:40pm
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