I am in the market for a new pre amp and need to know the following. If a CD is digital does it mean that the best possible connection to the pre amp is a digital connection such as coaxial or toslink, or is the 2 channel analog connection equaly as well sounding? The reason I ask is because I listen to CDs so if a digital connection from a CD player to a pre amp yields the best sound quality then does it mean that I should be purchasing a pre amp which HAS a digital IN connection, either toslink or coaxial?
This would depend on your gear and the quality of the DAC that is being fed the digital signal. If your preamp had a DAC (seems unlikely, but, possible), it would have to be of a higher quality than the one in your CD player to warrant just using the CD player as a transport to just send a digital signal out. Without know what you're using, it's difficult to say, and even knowing model numbers doesn't mean anyone will be familiar with the sound of these components. I suspect analogue connections will serve you fine, but, give us more details and we'll see if we can offer any input (so to speak.)
Thanks for the reply. My CD player is a Pioneer Elite 45A (actually a DVD player which I use for 2 channel music listening). As far as a Pre Amp I don't have one. I am looking to buy one so not sure if I should get one with a digital input capability or a more typical 2 channel analog (RCA) connection.
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