Does amplifying a stereo signal degrade the sound quality?

[enwar3]

I currently have my laptop's stereo output hooked up to my amp. However, I want to route the stereo signal from my laptop's headphone jack to my monitor's speaker input, then connect the monitor's headphone jack to my amplifier. I want do this because I also have my xbox hooked up to my monitor and I don't have a better way of also hooking it up to the amp.

However, my monitor's speakers aren't that great, and the signal coming out of the monitor's headphone jack is much softer than the signal coming out of my laptop. So the signal is being de-amplified by the monitor audio system and then re-amplified by my amp (so I can play at a comfortable volume). Will this have noticeable effects on my sound quality?

 

[electroju]

Nothing can de-amplify. It is amplifying the sound or the sound loudness is as is. The so called headphone jack on any computer is just its line out or pre-amplifier. It does not have enough power to handle 8 ohm speakers, but it has enough power to handle 32 to 100 ohm speakers which are the range for headphones. Headphones are close to your eardrum, so its 96 dB efficiency or whatever the efficiency is your headphones becomes very loud to the point of ear damage. The amplifier in your computer might be more powerful than what is in your computer monitor.

Amplifiers does degrade audio. Amplifiers degrade audio from total harmonic distortions, power supply noise, and phase. Probably worst degradation is phase. The phase changes the high frequencies while the low frequencies are not changed. If you want quality audio, use less amplifiers in chain for analog audio because each amplifier will add its own distortion and on top of that phase.

If you care for audio quality, buy speakers that sound best to you, but do not forget to spend money on a good amplifier.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

I would check to see if you can get the monitor to output a louder signal through its headphone jack.

Otherwise -- yes, the audio signal is being degraded. Each device along the signal path degrades it a bit. PC to amp = little degradation. PC to monitor to amp = a little more degradation. How much it's being degraded -- who knows. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Another thought would be to hook up your Xbox's audio cables to your amp while routing just the video cables to your monitor. You can get RCA "extension cords" that can extend the reach of the audio cables.

 

[Emulex]

go digital then worry about the resampling effect on quality it will never end man

 

[Modelworks]

Every signal exiting an amplifier will have distortion, no way around it. Amplifiers are designed with center frequencies where they respond better than others. The other factor is attenuation that is going to occur from impedance matching done on headphone jacks. Headphone hacks are designed around a 32 ohm impedance while line level like on an amplifier are expecting 100 ohm + . Some jacks use a resistor that maintains at least 32 ohms regardless of what you connect to the jack and that will degrade the signal further.

A couple solutions. A mixer can mix the signals together to make the one you want to hear the loudest then just run that to the amp not using the monitor at all. Or an audio switch box can allow you to add as many inputs to your amp as you need and select between them.

ebay is cheapest place to get a switch. Often it will be a audio and video switch but you can just use the inputs you need and ignore the video part. The one like below actually switches all inputs directly to the outputs so you can use any jack input for anything audio or video. It is basically a 5 rca to 5 rca selector. Nothing inside it but 3 switches and some wire. You could make one but at $16 it isn't worth the time.
http://cgi.ebay.com/5-RCA-Video-Audio-AV-Ypbpr-Component-Sharing-Switch-Box_W0QQitemZ110464481757QQcategoryZ73390QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m8QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DMW%26its%3DC%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5342983322367488409