optical or coax?

I'm curious and confused about which connection is really the better one in terms of quality; coax or optical. I've read somewhere that the coax (SPDIF) connection was superior to the optical (TosLink) but at the same time, my new receiver's (NAD T753) manual suggests I should use the optical.

Any thoughts here? Will I be able to hear the difference at all?

Either option is acceptable. You will not hear any difference in sound. I have read that the exception to this is for long cable runs of more than 50' where the optical then becomes the superior product because the Coaxial signal will begin to degrade at long distances. I use Coax because it is generally cheaper and all the cable lengths in my system are fairly short.

w.e-coyote said:

I'm curious and confused about which connection is really the better one in terms of quality; coax or optical. I've read somewhere that the coax (SPDIF) connection was superior to the optical (TosLink) but at the same time, my new receiver's (NAD T753) manual suggests I should use the optical.

Any thoughts here? Will I be able to hear the difference at all?

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I tried both with a Denon 3805 - - Could not determine any difference but went with the Coax because 'rumor' has it that the sound quality is better with Coax.

Hopefully someone here has some concrete measurements.

JohnJ

Like was said, just keep the run short and it won't matter which you use. Optical cables are a little more fragile and shouldn't be bent at extreme angles as to not fracture the glass (plastic in cheaper cables).

The signal being passed is digital ones and zeros. This should have no impact on the sound. Either that information makes it across the cable or it doesn't. If it doesn't, you won't hear much!!

Just a terminology clarification - The SPDIF interface is not coax only. The optical connection is also an SPDIF, just a different connector scheme.

Never used an optical interconnect, but optical does have issues with long runs. What is "long" ? ... I dunno. Perhaps one of the deciding factors in chosing between the two digi interconnect types is the way the cables are retained. In that regard, I think optical sucks compared to an RCA jack.

I had a 4' monster thx 1000 optical cable(the best one they have) which sounded very good that is until I did a back to back test with a straightwires silver coax. For me there there was a pretty big difference. Much more of the music came through with the coax especially the middle and lower information. My speakers are B&W's which are very revealing so that may be where I hear the difference as it isn't night and day but enough to get me to ebay the optical and keep the caox. Ironically the optical cable was 70.00 and the coax was 50 go figure.

As alandamp said, optical is more fragile. The TOSLINK connectors are not as secure as the Coax either. That is why I prefer to use Coax over optical where I can. Coax is generally cheaper as well.

Funny how a stream of 1's and 0's can be improved by a high quality cable, eh?

Really?

SimonG said:

Funny how a stream of 1's and 0's can be improved by a high quality cable, eh?

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who said this?

SimonG said:

Funny how a stream of 1's and 0's can be improved by a high quality cable, eh?

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Don't believe everything you read.

SimonG said:

Funny how a stream of 1's and 0's can be improved by a high quality cable, eh?

Click to expand...

markw said:

who said this?

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alandamp said:

Don't believe everything you read.

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Markw, Alandamp. See that little smiley? It means SimonG was being sarcastic.

Regards

9f9c7z said:

Never used an optical interconnect, but optical does have issues with long runs. What is "long" ? ... I dunno. Perhaps one of the deciding factors in chosing between the two digi interconnect types is the way the cables are retained. In that regard, I think optical sucks compared to an RCA jack.

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Oh, but coax has issues with long runs too. It is more susseptable to interference than an optical cable that is immune from RFI/EMI
But, one needs to use the right fiber for long runs as some do degrade the signal. However, long distance cables in commercial use is fiber by choice, not wire

SimonG said:

Funny how a stream of 1's and 0's can be improved by a high quality cable, eh?

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Sure, of course. But it is beyond science to explain

In reality, the digital signal passed is not a 0 and 1. It is a continuous signal that is interpreted as carrying those values that are derived from that continuous signal

SUGENEREIS said:

I had a 4' monster thx 1000 optical cable(the best one they have) which sounded very good that is until I did a back to back test with a straightwires silver coax. For me there there was a pretty big difference. Much more of the music came through with the coax especially the middle and lower information. My speakers are B&W's which are very revealing so that may be where I hear the difference as it isn't night and day but enough to get me to ebay the optical and keep the caox. Ironically the optical cable was 70.00 and the coax was 50 go figure.

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If you heard a difference it was not caused by the cables. The bitstream transmitted via optical or coaxial is the same. The cable will either transmit the bits successfully(music) or not(silence).

I believe if you had done a blind test by having someone else switch the cables out of your view while you listened you would not have been able to identify which cable was used.

markw said:

who said this?

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Sugenereis-Much more of the music came through with the coax especially the middle and lower information.

This would suggest that more of those were passed by one cable than the other. How else could this be so? Unless he is mistaken, of course

SimonG said:

Funny how a stream of 1's and 0's can be improved by a high quality cable, eh?

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Oh, yes, the ones are more perfectly straight, looking like a young stud, not an old fart and the 0, well, more rounded, or is that an o

I apologise for my sarcastic (and aparently confusing) response to SUGENEREIS's review on the merits of coax vs. TOSLINK cables. I should have been clearer in my response (like rumble was) as this would have been far more helpful. I didn't mean to imply that I believe in any of the cable voodoo that's so prevalent among many audiophiles.

Thanks to Buckle-meister for understanding what I meant.

I have both Toslink optical and coax cable. Both are fine. Some components (like Xbox) have optical outputs while other item use just coax. You may be forced to use both. I will have to agree with all that the Toslink connector is quite flimsy. I wish they would switch to some of the locking style of connections used in the fiber optic business.

Now for distance, I'd always pick fiber optic cable. It's fragile but no interference problems. That's why they use it in communications and networking.

As far as price, I actually picked up 2 meter Accoustic Research optical cables for $9.99 each (on-line store). I paid quite a bit more for my Tributaries silver coax digital cables.

SimonG said:

I apologise for my sarcastic (and aparently confusing) response to SUGENEREIS's review on the merits of coax vs. TOSLINK cables. I should have been clearer in my response (like rumble was) as this would have been far more helpful. I didn't mean to imply that I believe in any of the cable voodoo that's so prevalent among many audiophiles.

Thanks to Buckle-meister for understanding what I meant.

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Don't need to apologize, not to me I understood perfectly well

mtrycrafts said:

However, long distance cables in commercial use is fiber by choice, not wire

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I bet you don't know why... Cost. That's what is laid out across the bottom of the Atlantic.