Newbie question: digital audio, better coax or optical? (1 Viewer)

[Timothy J. Trace]

Subject says it all...digital audio, better coax or optical?
Thanks!

 

[John Garcia]

Digital is digital, but optical goes through an additional conversion. Could the average human hear the difference? Doubt it.
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ITRCA ** Link Removed (sorry, car guy)

 

[Eric Stuckey]

Here is somthing that you dint ask, but is SO inportain.
Do not go cheep on a/v cables.The more you spend ,the better.I like Kember Kable for all use's.Speaker wire too.
Monster cable is good but there are many more that are even beter.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

If you have a choice, the coaxial connection tends to be cheaper and simpler. (That thin, optical cable looks like it is going to get beat-up by all those thicker cables )
Some magazines have reported little difference in sound using several different coaxial cables, but they heard a difference among some optical cables they were testing. They could never explain this. My personal theory is that one or two of the optical cables were damaged or had mis-aligned connectors.
Another member hooked up a Radio Shack optical cable, then a Monster version and shined the output onto a piece of paper. The Monster optical cable was clearly brighter. (note: too-bright can also be a problem). This does not say Monster is "better" than Radio Shack, just that consistancy is not very good with optical cables.
Note: You Do know that you can use a Video cable for the coaxial-digital connection? The people who wrote the SPDIF specification wanted you to be able to buy a very common cable, so they specified a 75 ohm Video cable. You dont need a cable that says "Digital" on the package or have little arrows on the jacket.
Hope this helps.

 

[Kevin Coleman]

The more you spend ,the better.

I can't agree with that. Terrible advice in my opinion.
Kevin C.
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[John Garcia]

quote: The more you spend ,the better.
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I can't agree with that. Terrible advice in my opinion.[/quote]
I agree. BAD advice. Kimber is a good example too. Waste of money for speaker cable, IMO.
[Edited last by John Garcia on September 17, 2001 at 05:15 PM]

 

[Eric Stuckey]

Well guys I SAID, IMO.So thats all it is.
Anyway here are some good cables too.
Tributaries www.tributariescable.com
UltraLink Link Removed
Nordost www.nordost.com

 

[NickSo]

This subject is very 'controversial' among HT enthusiasts...
Im a believer in BITS ARE BITS... Sending 1s and 0s over a plastic cable with light will be the same as sending 1s and 0s over wire with electricity...
Optical Cables -> Sound the same as -> Digital Coaxial Cables -> Which EQUALS -> Composite video cable
Yes, a well shielded RCA Yellow composite video cable is the same as a Shielded Digital Coaxial cable