I wanted to know the best (simplest?) and inexpensive way (other than a mini plug in headphone jack cable split into two RCA plugs that plug into receiver) to get decent quality sound from online radio stations, online music services and other live music sites. My laptop has an HDMI port, but my receiver does not. Is the DAC in my receiver good enough, or do I need an external (pricey) DAC. This is to play computer sourced music directly through my home stereo, not through a desktop amplified computer speaker set-up. I just want to run a wire (or wires) from my laptop to my home stereo receiver. I have a G72 C55DX Notebook from HP My receiver is a 5.1 Panasonic that is about seven years old. It has an optical jack, but is obviously not up to todays standards for accepting computer media.
Thanks!!
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