Digital Audio For Dvd Player

[THOMBOY]

I'm Curios Is There Any Benifit To Fiber Optic Digital Cable Vs. Digital Co-axial?

 

[agarwalro]

Nope. As far as quality of signal transfer is concerned they are identical. Some prefer the Coax connection because the RCA plug is more sturdy compared to the Toslink connector for optic fiber cable.

 

[westcott]

I'm Curios Is There Any Benifit To Fiber Optic Digital Cable Vs. Digital Co-axial?

Fiber does have one advantage and that is that it is less susceptable to interferance from radio frequencies or magentic fields.

 

[agarwalro]

Fiber does have one advantage and that is that it is less susceptable to interferance from radio frequencies or magentic fields.

A decent coax cable should be sufficiently shielded to prevent any interference issues.

 

[westcott]

A decent coax cable should be sufficiently shielded to prevent any interference issues.

A decent coax cable should be sufficiently shielded to prevent MOST interferance issues.

 

[agarwalro]

A decent coax cable should be sufficiently shielded to prevent MOST interferance issues.

A well made coax cable should be sufficiently shielded to prevent any interferance which impacts audio quality. IMHO, bottom line is, if you do it right, you will not be able to tell the difference.

I like how this is going

 

[westcott]

A well made coax cable should be sufficiently shielded to prevent any interferance which impacts audio quality. IMHO, bottom line is, if you do it right, you will not be able to tell the difference.

Unfortunately, that was not the original question and using words like "ANY" is incorrect. If you introduce a powerful enough RF signal or EMF pulse, you will impact the audio quality of a coaxial cable.

 

[Nomo]

If you introduce a powerful enough RF signal or EMF pulse, you will impact the audio quality of a coaxial cable.

We're talking extreme case on that one.
For all but extreme cases the signal will be the same.
Taking things one step further IMHO coax is superior for these reasons:
-Cost
-Ease of connection
-The comparative fragility of optical connectors.

Sorry to be argumentative. I've had a bad night.

 

[Jedi2016]

I've heard people say that coax is better, but they've never been able to give reasons for it.

I chose coax for a very simple reason.. it was the only free connector on my reciever. It's only got two digital inputs.. one optical, one coax. And since my PS2 has only an optical out, that left the coax as the only available digital connector on my reciever. Decision made.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I have read before people stating coaxial is a better connection. I don't see how this can be true when the optical cable "clicks" in to the hole and the coaxial just slips over the post...It wiggles, can come loose etc much easier than the optical. With no chance of RF interference either with optical, I choose optical if anything, for piece of mind.

JC

 

[zumbo]

I use both due to reasons previously listed by Jedi2016 . I do prefer the coax.
Three reasons.

1) I have not had an interference issue with any of my digital coax cables.
2) The cost of the tos.
3) How sensitive the tos is to damage from routing.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I have always thought optical cables are cheaper than coaxial. A good optical cable is about $30 but a good coaxial is about $50-$75. I can't see how one optical cable can be better than another as it's just a light beam..it works or it doesn't.

 

[ian1386]

I can't see how one optical cable can be better than another as it's just a light beam..it works or it doesn't.

Imperfections in the optical cable can reduce the quality of signal being passed through the cable. For example, some ice cubes are white/cloudy and hard to see through because of air inside the ice...same thing can happen with cables.

With that being said, I haven't spent more than $30 on an optical cable, as and decent optical cable will pass the signal without any issues. I go with optical cables generally because a) my receiver has 4 optical and 1 coax, and b) even cheap optical cables are immune to electrical interference.

I've always loved the coax/optical cable argument. People will download lossless digital music and movies coming from all the way across the world on who KNOWS how many different types and qualities of cables, and yet they still think that a $100 monster optical cable will give them better sound than a $10 wal-mart/rca cable.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have always thought optical cables are cheaper than coaxial. A good optical cable is about $30 but a good coaxial is about $50-$75. I can't see how one optical cable can be better than another as it's just a light beam..it works or it doesn't.

$50 to 75? That's way too much. I use RG-6 cable and RCA adapters for all of my RCA cables. At about 12 cents/foot for the good quality stuff (braided and foil shielding) it doesn't get much cheaper then that. Chances are, it is basically the same as those $50 cables. I have a 40 foot run of RG-6 going from my PC to my receiver completing a digital connection. It works fine. Total cost, about $7.

I have a couple $10 optical cables and I haven't had any problems. I don't really care one way or the other.