The picture is incredible on my 55" Mits widescreen with the Monster cables but I never used the standard cables that came with the XBox so I have no frame of reference. After seeing the picture they way it is now though, I have no intention of doing so either.
So to answer your...
I picked up the Monster component and optical cables when I bought my XBox last week. The optical wire has the standard adapter on one end and then a male "headphone type" jack on the other end. It then plugs into a female end on the base of the component cables so it would stand to reason...