[SOLVED] Does htpc audio into a receiver sound better via optical or av rca?

[alphacoyle]

My receiver doesn't have hdmi in so have been using the 3.5mm on htpc to receivers av rca inputs which sounds ok, but I see that I do have an optical input on the receiver and am building a new htpc so possibly could find a motherboard with onboard optical out (is mini-itx) but what I'm wondering is if the sound quality is going to be better as the new motherboards have pretty decent onboard audio, and my surround system--sony dream machine fx900--was considered higher end in it's day, which would be better?

 

[Lutfij]

It does sound better provided the HTIB can process the sound from your motherboard(sound card). I'd opt for the optical route since you also get directional/multi channel audio off one cable as opposed to RCA's giving only right and Left channel audio(which often is upmixed to the rear).

 

[alphacoyle]

Finally got the build finished; hooked up both the digital and analog, probably going to take a bit of fine tuning, but my initial impression was the optical was, for lack of a better word, sharp; where the analog was softer.