Sound Card Question

[Zap Brannigan]

What is the difference if any in using the analog cable or the spdif cable going from the socket on the soundcard itself plugging into the back of the CDROM?

Is there any audible difference in the sound?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I actually don't connect anything anymore and let the IDE cable carry the data.

I've never tried an spdif output from a cd-rom, but I imagine the difference wouldn't be noticable over analog.

 

[Zap Brannigan]

Are there any Pros or Cons in using just the IDE cable and niehter the spdif or analog?

 

[Thoreau]

The only time I have an audio CD in my drive is when i'm ripping it to my MP3 collection. Much like others in this thread, I don't bother with connecting the audio cable either. The only real difference I can see would be that witht he audio cable being used, sound from an audio CD would come over its own channel in the sound mixer, whereas going right over IDE tends to mix the sound into the wave channel.

 

[orangat]

I think most use DAE instead of messing around with cables.
You might not notice the difference on your PC since most tend to be cheap small plastic units anyway.