Digital Audio

[Fife]

After reading a couple articles it seems that digital coax is superior to toslink. Anybody hear differently? I question if the bend in the wire from component to component would impede the toslink signal.
Thanks

 

[mtrycrafts]

After reading a couple articles it seems that digital coax is superior to toslink. Anybody hear differently? I question if the bend in the wire from component to component would impede the toslink signal.
Thanks

I am not aware of a technical reson for TOs to be inferior to coax in audio application. TOS cannot stand up to tight bends, of course. But, if you set it carefully and leave it alone, not play with it, there should not be a difference.

 

[gene]

TOSLINK has been found in some cases to be inferior to COAX not so much b/c of the cable itself, but the interface. The optical interface can be up to 10dB noisier than COAX. There was an article about this done by Panasonic or another manufacturer a few years ago and I will try to dig it up.

 

[mtrycrafts]

TOSLINK has been found in some cases to be inferior to COAX not so much b/c of the cable itself, but the interface. The optical interface can be up to 10dB noisier than COAX. There was an article about this done by Panasonic or another manufacturer a few years ago and I will try to dig it up.

In the digital domain? If not, how would it affect the digital bit stream? How woul dit enter the digital bitstream to affect D/A?

 

[Fife]

Maybe distortion is introduced when the signal is converted to optical form.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I've found on occasion that the plug used on Tos-link connectors can be sized a bit irregularly. Some fit fairly snugly, but some will plain fall right out with just the weight of the cable. Seems like mostly the cheapo ones that have this problem.

Of course, sometimes you get an RCA connector that's almost too tight to use, but not as often.

 

[3beanlimit]

After reading a couple articles it seems that digital coax is superior to toslink. Anybody hear differently? I question if the bend in the wire from component to component would impede the toslink signal.
Thanks

I bought a quality "glass" Toslink and am using a quality DIY Coax. If you have a player that has both, you can do what I did....

Connect one digital input into a DVD connection and the other into a CD connection.

It doesn't matter which..This way you can A/B them.

My observation is that I can't here even a tiny bit of difference. They both sound exactly the same.

There are external differences though...If your using Toslink...be very carful to not bend it too much. Especially if it's glass and not plastic.

Coax is suspectable to interference from AC cords. Make sure you route it away from them.