Optical vs. Coaxial (1 Viewer)

[Ein_shem]

Can someone tell me what is the difference (quality wise) between the two? Isn't Optical suppose to be the higher-end of the two?

 

[Philip>L]

You're going to get people who say:

1. It doesn't matter.
2. Optical is better.
3. Coax is better.

My opinion:

Coax is better. Optical connections are very cheap to make and include in a system. Most devices have them now, but not all have coax connections because they're more expensive to include.

Coax has about a 100 times higher dynamic range than optical, and generally has less jitter.

One detraction to coax is that it grounds the player to the receiver which can induce a hum.

 

[Neil Joseph]

This is from the FAQ Primer...

Digital Audio: Optical Connection vs. Coax connection