InVeNtOr Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 i read a long time ago that the digital coax is a better option than an optical cable. is that statement still true? i haven't done any reading on the subject in a while and didn't know if things changed any. if anyone has any input on the subject, lets hear all about it.... thanks again..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted November 15, 2008 Moderators Share Posted November 15, 2008 Several years ago, I researched the very same question. My findings were that there is no difference in the quality of a Toslink vs Digital Coax. Digital is digital. It's Zero's and Ones. They are either on or off. I have no idea if what I read was truth, it was just what I found. I have used both and I could not tell a difference. I'm now using HDMI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darylomer12 Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 This may better help answer your question... http://www.audioholics.com/education/frequently-asked-questions/optical-vs-coaxial-digital-connections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Several years ago, I researched the very same question. My findings were that there is no difference in the quality of a Toslink vs Digital Coax. Digital is digital. It's Zero's and Ones. They are either on or off. I have no idea if what I read was truth, it was just what I found. I have used both and I could not tell a difference. I'm now using HDMI. I've always used optical. No particular reason. But I also now use HDMI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 well let me add a little bit more information.... i am using either cable to hook up my cable box to my receiver so i can watch tv with my gear either on or off. i wish the box had 2 hdmi ports, that would be the best choice..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 just read the link. i figured the coax would help more with rf, thats why i got an extra one. guess i was wrong. my entire et center is now tied up (will provide pics when the entire job is done) so i am redoing all my cables to shield out rfi/emi. with all the cables now neat, i am making a small challange. i hope when i redo my cables i won't have any issues. well since i will have both i can try either one and see which is better. although....it's just the cable box audio so it's not all that important anyway, and the cable is only 3'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO1 Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 The only thing that wasn't mentioned is that an optical cable is a lot easier to damage than a coax cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 I did a comparison test once on one of my players which had both optical digital and digital coax outputs. There was a noticable sound difference between the two when making A/B comparisons. With the tests I made my player had more bass with the digital coax, however I believe this was most likely a result of my equipment and not actual cable characteristics. It would probably be a good idea to try both connections and decide for yourself which you prefer. I normally prefer to use digital optical cables on my equipment if I can, this is just my own preference and is not based on anything really, mostly just consistency of my system, I think both optical digital and digital coax are both excellent connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted November 16, 2008 Author Share Posted November 16, 2008 does the optical cable have issues with rfi/emi? is it effected by it or gives off some kind of something that other devices can be effected by? since the signal will only be used for my cable box, i don't have issues with bass or anything like that...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Guy Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Absolutely not, there is no problem at all caused by optical cables. I think it is better to use optical cables to avoid these problems if anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted November 16, 2008 Author Share Posted November 16, 2008 well then that settles it, i will use my optical cable and have an extra digital coax laying around.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcarlton Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 My understanding is that the digital coax cable can pass more information than the optical cable. For that reason I use coax. I think this will become more apparent with some of the HD digital formats, with less chance of a bottleneck in data transmission using the coax cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lo123 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I did some cable mods this weekend to add a DVD player to my existing setup. The existing player runs an optical fiber cable. For the new one, I went with coax. Since I originally did the first player with optical cable, I've had some exposure to the cleaning requirements of fiber optic connections in various applications. When I considered the possibility of contamination, it was just easier to buy a well shielded coax cable. Fortunately, I have no major issues with noise on my cable so I think I'm OK. Another consideration is how many ports you have to play with. In my case, I have three optical inputs on my Denon receiver, but only one coax input. No HDMI yet, maybe next year..... Blue Jeans cables has some interesting articles on various interconnects, can't recall if the coax versus fiber is among them, but plenty of other interesting stuff to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Optical can have issues with jitter, but is nice when you needisolated grounds (avoids ground loops). If you've got solid PLL's orclock recovery circuits upstream, then jitter won't be an issue. The1's and 0's are gonna get there perfectly in both formats, but the timearrivals might be wiggling around a bit...ideally you want the arrivalsto be rock solid consistent. Almost everything digital nowadayshas some form of clock recovery and ground loops are rarely an issue inhome settings, so I really think it's a toss up. As far as EMI concerns, there is no way in heck you need to worryabout "RF" getting into your coax. It's one of the best shielded cables available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 My understanding is that the digital coax cable can pass more information than the optical cable. For that reason I use coax. I think this will become more apparent with some of the HD digital formats, with less chance of a bottleneck in data transmission using the coax cable. I think it's more likely any HD audio formats are going to require the bandwidth possible only through HDMI or future developments. Coax/SPDIF and TOSLINK are not up to the task. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 We get this cable from the cable company to our house... and everything is there..... It goes into a box.... But out of that box, we need a EXPENSIVE cable for this..for that.... it is all BS to me. Everything you need is in that cable from the wall... Why, after it goes through the box scrambled...You can't use that same type of cable to your TV or Projector is beside me! $$$$$$$$ < Is all it is.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripping Hazard Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 There is no quality differences in Toslink or Digital Coax. Only speed. The toslink is slightly slower speed but not limited by noise. You have to make corrections to use it. Digital Coax is much faster. I am switched to Digital Coax from my Sound Card to the receiver. HDMI has way better throughput. That is why the top of the line decoders only work over HDMI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 we are talking about a 3' cord, how much faster can it be? i guess if the coax is shielded it shouldn't be a problem with rf, it's the simple fact i OCD'ed and routed my cables in a very tight manner and have created a small problem. i knew i would so i am not too worried, i have the stuff to fix all that. i got the cables at monoprice so the optical was like $2.30 and the coax was $2.45 so i didn't loose too much if i decided to scrap one if them. monoprice rocks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcarlton Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Found some more information on coax versus optical. It turns out they both work, however, DTS 7.1 will run right at the data rate limit for optical cable. It follows that coax would work best for movie use. Music playback would not be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo1 Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 We get this cable from the cable company to our house... and everything is there..... It goes into a box.... But out of that box, we need a EXPENSIVE cable for this..for that.... it is all BS to me. Everything you need is in that cable from the wall... Why, after it goes through the box scrambled...You can't use that same type of cable to your TV or Projector is beside me! $$$$$$$$ < Is all it is.. It's not some big conspiracy, but it IS part of another big "C" - compression. $5 for a rather nice looking cable that can carry 10-bit video AND 8-channels of HD audio, all digitally, is just fine by me.. (Monoprice HDMI) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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