I have a question for any audiophiles here. So, in order to get better graphics from my Gamecube games, I’m playing them on a Wii using component video. Problem is, my receiver doesn’t have a component input, so I have to plug directly into the TV. However, there’s no reason I couldn’t send the audio to my receiver so I can use my surround sound system. As far as I can tell, I have two options for doing this - the first would be to leave the RCA audio cables plugged into the TV and use the TV’s optical out connection to connect to my receiver. The second would be to get RCA extension cables for the audio cables and plug them directly into the receiver. So my question is, is there any reason to choose one method over the other?
My initial thought was that there isn’t really a difference since the source is always going to be RCA, so I should just get whatever’s cheapest. However, an employee at Best Buy insisted I go with optical for better sound. While he was probably just trying to get me to buy their overpriced cables, it got me wondering if there was any audio processing my TV would do that might improve (or degrade) the audio signal.
In case it matters, my receiver is a Sony STR-DH540, and my TV is a Vizio M470NV.