Best Audio Quality
Achieving the best audio quality comes down to a few factors.
- Cables
- Equipment - quality, brands etc
- Settings, Calibrations
- Audio Source - analogue? digital? mp3? DVD? Burnt DVD? etc
This article talks about the first of these 4 factors - the cables. Having and using the correct cables is important.
Which cable to use? To get the best audio quality
From a surround sound stand point, the cable that gives the best audio quality is one that delivers the most audio channels (6 channels also known as 5.1) rather than a cable that can only deliver 2 channels e.g
This is only useful if you have surround sound. (An amplifier and 5.1 -7.2 speaker system).
In order of the best to worst:
- Analogue 6 channel RCA
- Toslink or Dig. Coax.
- 2channel RCA or Stereo
- Analogue RF FM
What are the best material sources of audio?
To get the best audio quality, the material source is very, very important. All those downloaded mp3's only sound as good as the KB ratio and the quality of the recording and/or copy & duplication.
In order of best to worst: The best material source of audio is:
- Vinyl record
- Blue Ray DVD w/7.1
- DVD/Blue ray with 5.1, HD TV w/5.1 channel
- Digital radio, CD, MP3 with 120kb or higher, TV channel with 2.1, 2.0, 3.1,
- Analogue FM - radio and television broadcasts
What's involved with speaker and amplifier calibration?
To get the best audio quality, speaker and amplifier calibration is one of 5 basic factors that needs to be addressed.
Settings of speaker/amplifier calibration include: (Marked with * = critical)
- Manual calibration (not auto!) *
- Surround Sound Test *
- Channel levels *
- Distance *
- Speaker size*
- Speaker impedence *
- Zoning
- Effect and toning settings *
- Source selection
- Microphone calibration
- Sub woofer *
- Pitch
- Treble/bass
- Input assignment *
- More or less depending on amplifier
