SQ difference between 3.5mm and RCA?

[sjv13 10+ year member]

Is there any difference in SQ between a 3.5mm connection and an RCA connection?

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[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Yes, significant.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Not if the connections are good and both cables are shielded.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Not if the connections are good and both cables are shielded.

How often is that the case?

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

Yes, significant.

Not if the connections are good and both cables are shielded.

I am asking because I'm thinking about getting a pair of the Paradigm Shift A2 powered speakers (for home audio) and you can daisy chain them together (or use them individually) and it comes with a 3.5mm cable to do so, but you can also use RCA cables.

The main reason I'm wondering though is because they have input for both 3.5mm or RCA. And I'll be using my mac laptop which has a toslink output (3.5mm optical) but then I'll need to convert that to RCA with a little adapter box. The other option is to just use a regular 3.5mm cable straight from the laptop to the input.

Also, they sell a bluetooth adapter that plugs into the speaker's input via 3.5mm and then I could connect the laptop via bluetooth. But I think this will be the lowest SQ. But it would make things so easy. It might almost be worth it. I'm not sure. What do you guys think?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I would personally use the RCA's.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

How often is that the case?

Good point.

 

---------- Post added at 04:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 PM ----------

 

For ruggedness and reliability sake RCAs are definitely superior. Especially in a car. I have however run 3.5mm mini plugs with small diameter shielded cables in home audio (PC stuff) with no SQ problems. But if you have a choice, use the RCA's.