[herbert]

Hi Sherry,

You said:

“I had avoided doing anything like a physical cable previously because of digital-to-audio-to-digital conversion degradation of signal.”

Recording over the sound card will always result in “digital-to-audio-to-digital conversion degradation of signal”, whether you use an external cable or the sound is directed internally in the analog part of the sound card.

Using the onboard Realtek HD audio by itself should give you the better results, even if you have to use an external cable to connect “out” to “in”. Best results of cause are achieved if the sound remains in digital form at all times and the sound card is only used for monitoring but is not part of the actual recording system.

Best wishes,

Herbert