Digital optical vs. coaxial?

[micalma]

I currently have my dvd player connected to my receiver using a Digital coaxial cable.
Should I instead use the optical cable (currently being used for my cd player) to connect the DVD player to the receiver instead?

I could also connect my cable box to my receiver using the optical cable and just use the Red and white cables for my cd player.

Thanks,
Extremely confused

 

[MDS]

There is no quality difference between optical and coax digital connections. They both do the same thing and use the same protocol for transferring audio data (s/pdif).

The only real consideration when choosing between the two would be that the Toslink connector on optical cables is somewhat fragile while the RCA connector on a coax cable is more robust. If you aren't constantly moving things around it's a moot point. Just use whichever one you need for the source component you want to hook up.

 

[Rickster71]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm of the understanding that coax would be susceptible to electrical interference, from near by parallel running, power cords.
Where as optical would not.
Rick

 

[obscbyclouds]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm of the understanding that coax would be susceptible to electrical interference, from near by parallel running, power cords.
Where as optical would not.
Rick

This is my understanding also, however, I've yet to hear the interference myself while using digital coax.

Another consideration is that Optical cables are usually more expensive, also.

 

[MDS]

Any cable is susceptible to interference but that doesn't mean it happens often in practice. Optical cables are not susceptible to emi/rfi interference but they are fragile and easily broken if the bend radius is too great. Trade-offs.

In terms of performance, the two are equivalent.

 

[markw]

In theory, yes

Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm of the understanding that coax would be susceptible to electrical interference, from near by parallel running, power cords.
Where as optical would not.
Rick

But in the real world it doesn't seem to be a problem. Maybe in extreme cases, but so far not a whole lot of problems have been reported using coax.

Optical has it;s's own issues. Two extra conversion steps, funky connectors. delicacy of the media, etc...

But, when toslink is set up properly it's just as good as coax as far as quality goes.

 

[rnatalli]

A well-shielded coax won't see any real interference. I generally choose coax simply because of the connectors on the ends.

 

[Seth=L]

The reason the Optical is marketed by Monster Cable and other cable manufacturers as being "superior" is because it costs less to manufacture. It isn't superior or inferior in terms of data transfer in the SPDIF format. Coaxial has more bandwidth potential than Optical that will never be utilized in a SPDIF system. Any well shielded 75 ohm cable should not have any interference issues.

micalma, what receiver and CD player are you using?

 

[fmw]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm of the understanding that coax would be susceptible to electrical interference, from near by parallel running, power cords.
Where as optical would not.
Rick

Audiophiles have a hard time getting past analog waveforms. Digital connections do not transmit analog waveforms. They transmit just data in the same way any cable in your computer system does. Coax means that the wire is shielded to to reduce RF interference. In other words it is not an issue at all - not even a little. As long as the data gets from one end of the transmission line to the other, that's all that is required. How it makes the trip is meaningless.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm of the understanding that coax would be susceptible to electrical interference, from near by parallel running, power cords.
Where as optical would not.
Rick

If your coax is long, yes. That is also discussed at Dolby FAQ, or used to be.

 

[mtrycrafts]

.. They transmit just data in the same way any cable in your computer system does.

Yes, but it is not like a Morse code data transmission, . - . etc.
It is kind of a square wave forms shape with the lengths of each rise and fall determining the 0 and 1 and how many.