RCA vs optical cable?

First, optical cables do not have a 75ohm impedance. That is a spec for electrical cables but standard RCA audio cables are not 75ohms. Only digital audio cables are or should be.

Second, you cannot connect these two types of cables to the same jacks. What input and output jacks do you have?

Third, assuming that you can use either, there is continual debate over which one is preferred, so I do not think you can go wrong either way.

Kal

what i think you meant to ask is whether you can use a standard analog (red/white) rca audio cable as a digital coaxial (spdif) cable. (digital optical cables have a different type of connector). as kal notes, an analog rca cable has a different impedance and won't work well as a digital coaxial cable. however, a standard analog (yellow) composite video cable is 75ohm and should also work as digital coaxial cable.

Loomishohnson you got my question right. Thank you Kal for pointing out that RCA cables do no have an impedance of 75 ohms. I just wanted to see if I could get away not expending some money in a digital cable. Thank you for your responses!

I would suggest trying a regular analog RCA to hear what it sounds like first before purchasing a digital RCA. If you like what you hear, great, if not, demo some different digital cables.

I am using an analog RCA from my SBT to my Audio Note 2.1 DAC and it sounds great to me and that is really all that matters. Right?

People are always asking if this can be done or what will this sound like if I do this, etc. I like to experiment with different set ups. In my opinion, an individual is in the wrong hobby and is lazy if they don't want to hear what different configurations sound like. It takes a lot of time and effort to experiment with what one is hearing.