Do you prefer coaxial or optical cable? (1 Viewer)

[Jim_C]

>>Thanks, Jim. Are you still getting "discrete" Dolby Digital on your receiver from your CLD-59 with the digital coax? How long have you had it?>Maybe I'm misunderstanding the technology a bit. The AC-3 RF was for analog to digital transfer, correct? So since the LDs are digital in nature, the receiver should decode the signal through the digital coax?

 

[Lee Scoggins]

What kind of optical lengths were you running Lee?

Length is not really an issue here Chu. The issue is the jitter-proneness of optical connections and the smearing effect this has on sound.

In the studio we used all sorts of lengths from 1 to 3 meters and we always had problems with the result.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I am a bit confused here in reading the posts again...

We are actually talking RCA connectors versus optical right? Not coaxial, right? or was I originally right in my post. I would still give the same recommendation.

If so, Let me add one more thing, use "balanced" XLR connections where possible as they add a measure of sonic improvement also.

 

[Colin-H]

Digital audio coax cables use RCA connectors. Digital audio optical cables use toslink connectors.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Digital audio coax cables use RCA connectors.

Thanks Colin for the clarification. In this context, I think we should use the preferred term "digital cables" as referred to by the audio/home theater press. A minor point but this will ease the communication going forward.
"Coax" usually refers to the RG-6 type wire from your local cable monopoly.
If we are talking DVD to receiver or DVD to projection set connections, definitely use component video inputs where possible. There is also the capability by some receivers to accept component inputs, but I have found better video when adjusting friend's HT systems if the video goes straight to the viewing device - the fewer circuits and connections, the better.
I have found some of the better Monster cable to be adequate for video, but the Audioquest line is very good on my setup. The designer Bill Low has recently revamped the entire line and the results are impressive.
I usually recommend Cardas, but some don't want to spend this much on high end cable, even though you can hear the difference. For most systems, digital cable from Audioquest (Kimber also) is very good and it is not outrageously expensive.
Hope that helps.

 

[Chu Gai]

Simply out of curiousity Lee, was the toslink plastic or glass? Hope things are going well for you in Hot-Lanta...my best to you as always

 

[Dan Galyen]

Jim:

Well, I went and bought the digital coax cable today, and as you said it was PCM digital, not discrete. However, it helped me solve another problem that I posted in a different thread. I realized that I had a separate optical (optical 2) for DTS soundtracks on my receiver. I was getting horrible distortion out of the other optical input on DTS without knowing why. I think it might be bad.

Anyway, I watched Jurassic Park in DTS last night for the first time all of the way through and the audio transfer was flawless.

The reason I upgraded receivers in the first place was for DTS, keeping the AC-3 receiver with my LD. I believe I will set up a separate theater with that.

Thanks again!!!

 

[Jim_C]

No problem Dan.

>>I realized that I had a separate optical (optical 2) for DTS soundtracks on my receiver. I was getting horrible distortion out of the other optical input on DTS without knowing why. I think it might be bad.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Chu,
Tried both actually. Isn't glass thought to be better from an engineering standpoint?
Still, we had same results as before. Things in Atlanta going well but it is definitely toasty!

 

[Stephen Houdek]

I have no preference between optical and coax but I sure can see how having the extra conversion between eletrical and optic energy can have an effect.

John makes a most excellent point. I use digital because it is there. Purists "should" want as few conversions and state changes in the process as possible. It HAS to make a difference. Whether its audible or not is anyone's guess. I sure can't hear the difference.

 

[Dimitrios Stathopoulos]

I had wondered about the coax vs optics question and one can make arguments for either interconnect. Coax in my opinion is the only way to go if you have decently designed equipment.

Now between the 2 coax wins in the loss department, since the loss through the Toslink connector is on the order of 0.5 dB or more, heck even good SC and FC type connectors will have a minimum of 0.5 dB of loss. The coax will have neglible loss at these frequencies over 1 or 2 meters. Also the actually loss in the fibre at 2 meters will be unmeasureable since it is on the order of 0.3dB/kilometer, so 99.9% of the loss through the fibre will be through the POS TOSLINK connector.

Also keep in mind that in order to put that digital signal onto a peice of glass(actually cheap as plastic) you have to modulate your baseband digital signal and then demodulate that same signal at your reciever, then the digital signal gets processed by the DAC. Here coax wins out again, no mod demod step for coax.

I won't even go into the flimsy TOSLINK connector of the fibre cable, also keep bend radius in mind when using fibre. The first time I connected my PS2 into my Marantz unit I was waiting for a click to tell me the connector engaged, to this day I think I hosed that optical input.

Common mode distortion paths, this is the only place where fibre helps. If any engineers out there have had to get there equipment to pass NEBS compliance knows that a point of failure is the cables that connect one peice of equipment to another. Using fibre optic connections helps eliminate a common mode distortion paths, typically seen and heard as some sort of ground hum. What happens is one peice of equipment has signal present on it's ground plane and when you connect these two grounds together through the cable they are at different potentials, causings this humming noise. The only way to fix this with a coax connector is to diconnect the ground connection on one end of the cable. But if you have decently designed equipment you don't need to worry about it and can stick with coax.

I know this coax vs fibre is kind of the untouchable topic of home theatre, but when one thinks about it coax wins hands down....

 

[Neil Joseph]

I have both hooked up but I prefer coaxial just because it is more robust.

 

[Josh P]

I think which (coax or opt) cable is better will in part depend on the quality of the cable. The digital signal is generated as an electrical 1 and 0s. Transmission along the coax cable is essentially unaltered, however for optical the electrical signal has to be converted to light and then back again, thus introducing the more possibility of error.
On the other hand optical cables generally lose less info due to the nature of light compared to electical signals, ie the cable quality of optical cables plays less part than coax.
So generally I beleive that cheap opt cables are comparable to cheap coax, however a decent coax generally wins out over good optical cables due to the lack of conversion.
Of course it always comes down to every cable being different and its what suits you best, but you should always buy a good coax cable as low strength signals suffer the most and so a decent buy will give bigger improvements in sound, (over upgrading speaker cable). I personally prefer coax cables as I found the sound to be much less sterile than optical.
Hope this helps

 

[Dimitrios Stathopoulos]

On the other hand optical cables generally lose less info due to the nature of light compared to electical signals, ie the cable quality of optical cables plays less part than coax.

This is an incorrect statement and misleading. Yes the glass portion of a fibre optic assembly has much less loss then the copper cable, but when you consider the loss of the TOSLINK connector you will find that your optical cable will have more total loss then the coaxial cable.

ds

 

[Neil Joseph]

I have to also add that I am was both connections for the longest while then all of a sudden, I started experiencing audio dropouts with the optical connection. When I switched to the coaxial connection, all was ok. I never had the time or need to troubleshoot this but I expect that either the cable ends are dirty or the cable is bent at a sharp angle or some such thing.