I was interested to read that iPlayer provides superior sound quality to DAB (Ask Jack, 6 August). Which would be the best way to connect my laptop to my hi-fi to take advantage of this?
Stephen Gell
The simplest connection is a Y-cable with a jack plug on one end and two RCA phono plugs on the other end. However, you will have to check the actual inputs and outputs for size and type. Connecting "line out" to "line in" or Aux should work, but on a laptop, you may have to use the headphone socket. The output may be too high, so plug the cable in with the hi-fi turned off, and start with the volume control at zero so as not to overload the amp.
In some cases, if you have optical S/PDIF ports, you can make the connection with a Toshiba TOSLink or EIAJ digital optical cable. This should cut down the amount of electrical noise, which can be a problem with computer audio.
There are also, of course, many wireless systems to make the connection, of which the best known is the Squeezebox.
