best sound cables. how to buy

[jpaul]

Greetings
Trying to learn what is best.
Optical cables or degital-coax?
Is there a noticable diference in the sound quality?
I love good sound, movies and music.
Right now this is what I'm looking at:

HDMI cable 1081P certified
sonicwave #40279

velocity toslink #40390
or
audioquest

 

[MDS]

HDMI is different than optical digital or coax digital.

Both optical and coax digital use the s/pdif protocol and perform the same. In some rare cases, coax digital can be slightly more susceptible to electromagnetic interference (because it is electrical instead of optical) but in practice there is no difference. On the other hand, coax cables and connectors are more robust than optical cables which use the fragile toslink connectors. Use either one.

S/PDIF cannot carry high bandwidth multi-channel audio so cannot be used for things like SACD, DVD-A, or multi-channel uncompressed PCM (which is the underlying format of the newer lossless formats like Dolby TrueHD.

HDMI can carry high bandwidth multi-channel audio as well as video and control signals at the same and is the current industry standard.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

HDMI is different than optical digital or coax digital.

Both optical and coax digital use the s/pdif protocol and perform the same. In some rare cases, coax digital can be slightly more susceptible to electromagnetic interference (because it is electrical instead of optical) but in practice there is no difference. On the other hand, coax cables and connectors are more robust than optical cables which use the fragile toslink connectors. Use either one.

S/PDIF cannot carry high bandwidth multi-channel audio so cannot be used for things like SACD, DVD-A, or multi-channel uncompressed PCM (which is the underlying format of the newer lossless formats like Dolby TrueHD.

HDMI can carry high bandwidth multi-channel audio as well as video and control signals at the same and is the current industry standard.

Ditto. I was going to answer this but you beat me to it. (and used half the words it would have taken me...)

 

[j_garcia]

www.bluejeanscable.com will get you everything you need.

 

[jpaul]

Thanks for the reply,
Actually, the HDMI was for the video only,
The Optical and digital coax for the sound.
Which one is better or are they close enough not to tell?

 

[j_garcia]

I prefer coaxial digital whenever available because it is a more robust connector. Sound wise, it would be hard to tell the difference.

 

[jpaul]

Thanks for the help, I'm online ready to buy.