It seems to me that monster optical cable is a rip off since its just carrying light and that EMI doesn't affect it. Can anyone tell me if monster optical cable is really worth it?
A quality optical cable is a good thing. What Monster is offering is overpriced for what you get though, as is the case with most of their stuff.
I've picked up some AR Pro2 cables from www.ac4l.com for $16 and they work great. There are also some Dayton models at www.partsexpress.com for $10 and under, depending on the length you need.
I prefer coaxial digital if you have that connection type, simply because the connection is more positive (less likely to be knocked out or damaged).
Short answer: Monster is decent-built stuff, but you are paying a good bit of markup for the ability to walk into nearly any AV store and pick up one of their cables.
In truth - there is a LOT of difference in optical cables. Some are made with plastic fibers, some with glass, and the purity of the materials can multiply the cost by several hundred times.
But for home theater applications (low light, low frequency, not much chance of solarization), a inexpensive cable works just fine. A inexpensive, plastic based cable will likely last 5-10 years. A glass-based cable could last 20+ years, but cost 10-20 times as much.
I'm with John that I prefer coaxial-digital cables. The one optical cable that I do have hooked into my system - is a inexpensive Radio Shack model.
Unfortunately one does not always have the option of using coax. For example, my DVD player is optical only.
There are numerous places for decent optical cables for inexpensive prices; In addition to the two mentioned above, also consider Lifatec. One of their advantages is that they have a variety of short lengths available for reasonable rates. (I haven't seen anywhere else to get 1' and 2' opticals, and my rats-nest is already too ugly to add great loops of optical.)
While I wouldn't say Monster stuff is a rip off by any means, I don't use it as the price -vs- performance bang for buck just isn't there.
It is never a bad idea to pay a little more for a beefier cable in my opinion. How much is up to each of us. The replacement policy on Monster alone can be worth it to many.
anything made by Monster , in monetary value terms, is a mixture of horse shit and panther piss.Don't swallow the marketing BS. Look inside your speakers- see any thick guage OFC THX certified cable insulated by nitrogen injected dialectric?
I've tested , double blind mind you, audio & visual cables for 3 years. Its all lies. Not that Mr Lee minds as he's porning it up in his latest Lamborghini.
Audioquest, by the way, would have to be the masters of consumer deception. But if people were dumb enough to pay me $1000 's of dollars for cable that cost me a pittance to make, I too would tell them it will put lead in their pencil.
Pure BS. Although some may disagree, scientifically, the only difference between optical vs. coax is the transmission method, the rest is a codec that has timing and error correction that alows the statement "bits is bits" to apply (note, this is for DD/DTS, PCM is another story because of timing issues and jitter).
Yeah Monster is way OVERpriced IMO. we tested our stuff against monster a few months back and we came out equal to or on top across the board. copper and optical. btw, these are the toslinks I use. I don't know if they offer them higher than 12FT http://store.tca-inc.net/toslinkaudio.html
Yeah, I just ended up getting a bunch of monster cable. The reason why? I work at Sears and we have this thing 4 times a year called friends and family night where there is always good sales. Monster cable was 75% off that night and I got an additional 10% for my associate discount. So I got 85% off of Monster cable and stocked up.