Hottest signal when Sampling - which cables get you loudest?

Gear:
Rane Empath (Aux out is rca, booth out is quarter inch, and main out is xlr)
mpc2500
Technic 1200 mk2


So I tried Aux out (rca out of rane mixer to digital input on mpc) and this was adequate but super quiet.

Then I tried booth out (quarter inch out of booth from rane mixer to record in input on mpc via quarter inch)
This produced the best results for me so far but I get some CRAZY feedback if REC GAIN knob is past the halfway point.

So I'm reading through the MPC2500 bible and it's recommending I use a coaxial digital cable for the loudest signal. I'm wondering if using the digital coaxial cable will actually be louder than quarter inch since I'd have to use Aux Out on the rane mixer as opposed to Booth Out? Or if there's a quarter inch to digital coaxial cable?

Thanks for your time.

some fun stuff for taking time to read my post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY3u0dO8BWE

Hey - you would need a digital out on your mixer in order to use the MPC digital in - that's not what you want. Any of the outputs should work fine, I would pick the one that gives you the hottest signal. I don't think the 2500 has balanced inputs, so probably the 1/4" (probably unbalanced?) are your best bet. Is there any way the output of your 2500 could be getting back to the mixer to cause it to feed back? Try turning MONITOR off when you're sampling and see if the feedback thing goes away. Unless you have bad cables or something, no signal level should cause anything like feedback to happen. If it's way too hot it will be pretty distorted, but I am assuming you are already using the meters on the record screen and the REC GAIN to get the input to a nice moderate level, in which case you should have no issues from any of your mixer outputs.

dshook, thank you.

The 2500 has balanced inputs. So you should use TRS cables to connect your mixer with the MPC. That is, if the mixer also has balanced outputs. If not, you have no choice but to use TS cables...

Going from the mixer´s RCA outs to the MPC inputs is not recommended, because this connection is unbalanced and has a lower output (-10 dBV vs. +4 dBu).

Thank you