Hope this is the right forum. Not audiophile level stuff, but definitely beginner level!
I’m trying to decide the best cable to run music from my PC to various rooms of my house on the cheap. Been playing around with wireless, but there always seem to be some annoying issues, and I would prefer to just have some wires that will just work. I know that longer wires can degrade sound, but as long as it's not terrible I don't think I will know the difference.
PC has a standard 1/8” output. It will run to PC speakers, my home theater sound bar (RCA or optical inputs; optical currently being used by TV), and a mini-amp connected to floor speakers (RCA inputs). I want to be able to use any combination of these at the same time. I bought a 4 channel headphone amp, which was the cheapest device I could find that would let easily choose A and/or B and/or C. I’m sure a nice receiver would work better, but then that’s more $$. Headphone amp has 1 ¼” input and 4 ¼” outputs, each channel has a volume knob so I can turn down the other rooms when just using PC.
Amp to PC speakers will just need a 1/8-1/4 adapter. Soundbar will need a run of 25’. Other speakers will be anywhere from 35’-50’ depending on how I go through/around things.
Do I just use long RCA cables, like this? [Whoops, can't post links. It's monoprice product ID 5346]
Someone elsewhere recommended coax cables for better noise prevention. So something like this? [RCA Coax cable. Monoprice 2683] I thought I read that coax was only digital, so didn’t know if that would be a problem or require a DAC or something. Would I use a short 1/4” to RCA type cord, then 2 long cords of those?
What about a cable with ¼” on both ends like this [Monoprice 4793 TRS Cable] then a short ¼ to RCA cable?
Again, don’t need perfect sound, I just don’t want to deal with running cables just to have terrible hums or static or something. Please put me out of my misery so I can get this done and just listen to some music!
