What's new

Are all digital optical cables created equal? (1 Viewer)

JoshAH

Auditioning
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Messages
4
I was at walmart tonight and in their clearance section they had a RCA 9' digital optical cable (model DT9HP) for 9 dollars and it was regularly 23 dollars. I decided I couldn't pass the deal up, if anything I'll just take them back if they aren't any good. Another question is.... I know ill hook up my dvd player's audio with the digital optical but would i also hook my tv's audio with a digital optical cable into the reciever? Finally does anyone know if a regular digital optical cable will work with the xbox's HD pack? or is it a special cable?
 

John S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2003
Messages
5,460
Well, not equal, but equal enough. As far as sound goes, they are equal, but you always have the varied degrees of build quality, ect..ect...


Do you use an internal HD tuner in your TV? If so, yes, you need to hook it up to the AVR digitaly. (Optical)
 

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Moderator
Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 5, 1999
Messages
6,818
Location
Corpus Christi, TX
Real Name
Wayne
From a function/sound standpoint, probably they are all the same. However, choking on the price of these things at the stores I picked up a bargain basement optical off eBay, and it was crap. The connector wasn’t up to protocol or something, it was goose-loose when I plugged it in. So much so that it wouldn’t have taken much for it to fall right out of the socket.

However, I don’t imagine this would be an issue in Josh’s case, finding an expensive one marked down.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 

JohnnyG

Screenwriter
Joined
Dec 18, 2000
Messages
1,522
I had been using an inexpensive optical cable for my DVD player and decided to replace it with a Monster since I sold the brand, was closing the store, and had an extra (otherwise, I never would have bought it!).

Now that I've justified why I own a Monster cable... ;)

I really did notice a difference in sound quality and it was rather pronounced too. After swapping the cable, I listened to material that I was very familiar with, and it immediately sounded wider and clearer. There was a odd raspiness in a particular spot on a couple of different CDs that I had always noticed before, but now, one was completely eliminated, and the other was reduced to be virtually unnoticable.

BUT...I'm still not a believer in "super cables". I may have just thought I heard a difference, or perhaps my old cable was actually defective. I believe you should spend the money to buy whatever you're comfortable with. If you are always going to wonder what it would be like to have a 'better' cable or 'better' speaker wire, then just do it and stop worrying about it! If a $6 cable is going to do that, than buy the $6 cable and be happy!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,637
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top