Mixdown Help

[jamking]

I've always used rca jacks when mastering to cd. My equipment has both optical and digital coaux, which I hear had better quality. How much of a difference is there?

Also, if I use a digital cable, will I be able to hear the audio just like I did with the rca's?

Last, I currently don't have a way to backup my projects except for the built in hard drive on the Akai. It has 2.5 gig, but I know copying and pasting can kill that quickly. My idea was to burn each track onto it's own c.d track. Later, if I decide to work on it again, I can just play the c.d and put things just how they were with a little bit of moving around to make it in sync. My question is, is there any sound quality degration when burning to a c.d and then back to the recorder. Everything is recorded at 16 bit/ 44.1 K.

Thanks

 

[rgraves]

I've always used rca jacks when mastering to cd. My equipment has both optical and digital coaux, which I hear had better quality. How much of a difference is there?

Also, if I use a digital cable, will I be able to hear the audio just like I did with the rca's?

Last, I currently don't have a way to backup my projects except for the built in hard drive on the Akai. It has 2.5 gig, but I know copying and pasting can kill that quickly. My idea was to burn each track onto it's own c.d track. Later, if I decide to work on it again, I can just play the c.d and put things just how they were with a little bit of moving around to make it in sync. My question is, is there any sound quality degration when burning to a c.d and then back to the recorder. Everything is recorded at 16 bit/ 44.1 K.

Thanks

you won't lose any quality burning to a cd if you're already recording in 16 bit 44.1

Guess I'm not sure what you mean by mastering to CD with your RCA jacks, but you won't notice any difference chances are...although it is better to use your digital out if you have the ability to.

 

[peritus]

you won't lose any quality burning to a cd if you're already recording in 16 bit 44.1

Guess I'm not sure what you mean by mastering to CD with your RCA jacks, but you won't notice any difference chances are...although it is better to use your digital out if you have the ability to.

I think he means he has two choices of digital out.. electrical spdif (rca) and optical spdif (toslink)....

From this page:

http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/toslink/toslink_2.html

"

Grande Finale


In keeping with today's modest aim -- to ascertain the width of the chasm separating good Toslink from good RCA terminated digital cables -- the answer is truly far more of a question. What chasm? In fact, what puny crack in the dry dirt?


Both Van Den Hul Optocoupler and WireWorld SuperNova III+ hold their own against far more expensive non-optical (blind?) RCA-S/PDIF cables. The differences that do exist don't proclaim one or the other the victor based on clear superiority. They simply operate inside system compatibilty effects and those of personal preferences. And true, "bad" Toslink does most certainly exist. If it's bad, it's clearly bad.


What makes it so? Seeing that both VDH and WireWorld eschew plastic conductors in favor of glass fiber, one could conjecture that the former is not appropriate for High-End applications. Until, that is, one were to come across a superior Toslink that did use plastic conductors. It'd throw that theory out the window for yet another example of how a precise understanding of cause-and-effect relationships in audio remains -- mostly -- vexingly elusive.


What's far more relevant and important to consider? Simply this. Don't base your purchase decisions for a new CD/DVD player, stand-alone transport or DAC on the kind of socketry it carries on its rear panel. Toslink jacks are not automatically inferior. In fact, based on Audio Asylum commentary of listeners who have performed their own comparisons, some clearly prefer glass-fiber Toslink. Perhaps that's due to creating a true stop gap against interference from ground problems.


Secondly: If your current or dream player offers a choice of either hookup, don't limit your search for the right cable to the single-ended standard. You could obtain as good or better for considerably less by exploring the Toslink route. If your local dealer won't play, contact Robert Stein at the Cable Company for some sample loaners. Just don't call him if you're not truly in the market and just want to kick his tires. He'd give me a hard time for suggesting it. Rightfully so. The man's running a business, not a lonely heart's club for bored audiophiles.


Lastly, if you had Toslink and RCA sockets, you could use both outputs to feed two highly resolved systems from one transport/player. The choices are dizzying. And good choices they are, too. Life's peachy in affordable audio land."

 

[chazba]

The article reminds me of the shoot out between "Monster Cable" , 20ga zip cord and 12-2 romex (like your house wiring). The best "golden eared audiophiles " couldn't tell the defference. The shoot out was conducted under tightly controlled conditions by "Popular Elactronics" mag in the late '80s
Go Figure....I still use O2 free copper fine stranded 12ga zip and it makes me feel good to do it. I also use coax spdif because I can.



chazba