Good post and it hits home to me. I have had cd separates for years, the Cal Audio Alpha and Delta. The dealer who sold me the units recommended a certain cable and I stuck with it for a few years. He then sold me a balanced interconnect when I chose to upgrade. I'm ashamed to ay that by accident I found out that I had been sold analog interconnects for that critical connection between transport and dac. I ordered a digital cable from Signal cable and did notice a difference right away. I fumed for a few days when I thought about not having the optimum connections for years.
Digital vs Analog output on CD players
Folks, I'm sure this has been discussed before but I can not find the thread. I'm in the throws of experimenting with connecting my two CD players (yes I use two for the fun of the hobby and switch around; some CD's sound better on the NAD and others on the Rotel) via their digital ouputs to the digital inputs on my A-V receiver vs their analog jacks. What's the official scoop on this? Does using the digital outputs improve the overall soundstage, depth, detail, etc of the music being played? Are there any other benefits going digital vs analog? My hi-fi store sold me a digital interconnect and is letting me try it out. I can always go back to analog. I have the my NAD C541 connected via its digital output and my Rotel RCD-1072 via its analog outputs. So far, I am finding the differences to be subtle. What does everyone think on this? Many thanks. Sorry if I sound naive on this topic.