RCA vs 1/4 inch cables
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- KVRian
- 829 posts since 25 Nov, 2005
So far, I have never tried to use rca connections when recording. I have an EMU 1212m PCI card and a USB audio interface. The EMU doesn't have any headphone output so I would like to route its audio output to the other interface (which has 4 inputs: 2 balanced 1/4 inch jack inputs and 2 rca's). Am I going to lose anything in the audio quality if I use RCA instead of the 1/4 inch inputs or is it the same? I would get 1/4 inch to RCA cables.
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- KVRian
- 1148 posts since 29 Jun, 2012
For most home studio applications, no, there will not be a significant difference in audio quality between the two types of cabling in this case. I am not saying there is NO difference, but it is unlikely it will impact you in a significant way.
Getting an adapter to change one end to 1/4' will not make the line balanced, so as far as cabling is concerned, there would be no real benefit to doing it that way.
The inputs on the other interface may be expecting different levels, so there would be a difference if the RCA inputs were expecting a different level than the 1/4' inputs were (ie. line level vs instrument level).
Getting an adapter to change one end to 1/4' will not make the line balanced, so as far as cabling is concerned, there would be no real benefit to doing it that way.
The inputs on the other interface may be expecting different levels, so there would be a difference if the RCA inputs were expecting a different level than the 1/4' inputs were (ie. line level vs instrument level).
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 829 posts since 25 Nov, 2005
I was actually thinking of getting an adapter to change two 1/4' cables (L and R audio output from EMU) to 2 rca jacks (inputs on the usb interface). Same thing?ontol wrote:
Getting an adapter to change one end to 1/4' will not make the line balanced, so as far as cabling is concerned, there would be no real benefit to doing it that way.
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- KVRist
- 439 posts since 7 Mar, 2011 from Pleasanton, CA
The difference is between two and three conductors per channel - that is, unbalanced (two) versus balanced (three).
1/4" t/r/s and XLR cables are balanced and have three conductors. The third conductor is used to cancel out noise that the cable might pick up. Both ends of the cable (e.g. audio interface and speaker) need to support balanced for them to be useful.
1/4" t/r and RCA cables (I.e. two conductor) are unbalanced; you can use an adapter to convert between them with essentially no loss. Neither has the third conductor used to minimize noise.
1/4" t/r/s and XLR cables are balanced and have three conductors. The third conductor is used to cancel out noise that the cable might pick up. Both ends of the cable (e.g. audio interface and speaker) need to support balanced for them to be useful.
1/4" t/r and RCA cables (I.e. two conductor) are unbalanced; you can use an adapter to convert between them with essentially no loss. Neither has the third conductor used to minimize noise.
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