Coaxial Vs Optical

alastair79

alastair79

alastair79

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Very quick question, I've got some very cheap coaxial cables between my CD and my AMP, so I'm going to splash out on some nice cable but which is better at the £30 mark coaxial or optical??

Thanks in Advance.
Al.



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from what i understan it makes no differance atall, digital is digital and so wouldnt even make a differance to the cheap coaxial line you are using now!
 
I'm gonna make an assumption that the existing co-ax is for analogue? If not then the above answer applies, if is an analogue connection then you are using the DAC onboard the CD player to convert the digital data from the CD to analogue. If you switch to a digital output, then you be purely using your cd player as a transport and relying on your amp for the conversion.

Depending on your CD player and Amp you may wish for the CD player to retain the conversion as its circuity is designed with stereo in might, and the quality of the components may be better than the DAC onboard the amp.
 
I can hear the difference between the 3 different coax leads Ive got and the optical so it all depends on how good your ears are and the quality of your hifi.If you have cheap DVD player and av amp then a cheap lead from ******s is all you need.
 
Thanks for the replies, if it makes any difference the CD player is actually a DVD player:

Image014scaled.jpg


Does this make any difference??

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With that kit id say go with a cheap lead from your local electrical store.I said the name in my last post but it is a competitor sorry overclockers i did not think as we were talking digi cables.If you are going to use a long cable then optical would be my choice.As a rough guid spend around 10% of your system costs on cables.
 
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Coaxia has some positive aspects to it (less jitter) so for PCM from CD's it's a better choice. Coaxial cables are cheaper too.

Some Audiophiles have compared optical and coaxial on high-end CD transport and DAC systems. Doubt you'll notice it with budget seperates.
 
My Cyrus dac x with psxr has 6 inputs and i use the missing link dark art coax from my cd transport and a optical lead from my Cyrus dab8 and a cheap coax lead from my DVD player.All the cables sound different but this is in 10 k hifi system.For a cable to be used with DVD and av then go with a cheap coax unless you want to use a long lead then optical is the better choice.
 
johny dolan said:
My Cyrus dac x with psxr has 6 inputs and i use the missing link dark art coax from my cd transport and a optical lead from my Cyrus dab8 and a cheap coax lead from my DVD player.All the cables sound different but this is in 10 k hifi system.For a cable to be used with DVD and av then go with a cheap coax unless you want to use a long lead then optical is the better choice.
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10k, thats more then my car cost. By the sounds of it I'll stick with the cheap stuff, seems to make a nice racket anyway :D

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alastair79 said:
10k, thats more then my car cost. By the sounds of it I'll stick with the cheap stuff, seems to make a nice racket anyway :D

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It's only cyrus kit, not that special imho. A well planned 10k system would really be something special, but spend about 2-3k on a cd player, amp and speakers/stands and you will have something stunning. THe second hand market is a gem !!!!!!!!

Just get either it doesn't matter and there arn't differences in sound quality if they are both being fed the same signal. It's a digital signal, and the only difference you will hear is if the cable is borked and some of the 1s and 0s don't get there. Then sound will cut-out or clip badly.

It is worth testing out various analoge cables e.g. interconnects, speaker cable, but you can make cables to compete with these fancy manufacturers cables yourself with a cheap selection of parts. Branded cables are load of carp, and all your paying for is their marketing, as the parts and designs they use arn't particularly special in most cases.

This 10% factor for your cables isn't really needed but is mentioned to me in most 'hi-fi' shops ive been in. Ive made my own interconnects and have cheap ixos speaker cable that seems to have good quality copper at a nice diameter (2.5mm squared). Total cost is about £50, plus i can make x3 more lengths of my 99.9% silver interconnect for other equipment.
 
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johny dolan said:
My Cyrus dac x with psxr has 6 inputs and i use the missing link dark art coax from my cd transport and a optical lead from my Cyrus dab8 and a cheap coax lead from my DVD player.All the cables sound different but this is in 10 k hifi system.For a cable to be used with DVD and av then go with a cheap coax unless you want to use a long lead then optical is the better choice.
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You are also using completely different sources for each of the digital interconnects, each of these will influence the digital data stream, and probably to a much large scale than the cable type.

And even drilling down futher even with my old DAC, the budget costs meant that the Designers used worse components for the optical inputs than they could for the electrical, resulting in worse jitter for devices connected via the Toslink cable. Obviously the more money that kit costs the less compromises that you'd expect.
 
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I have tested 4 different coax leads and a optical all from my arcam delta cd transport and they all sounded different and the missing link dark art the clear winner.adfinni you think £1500 worth of cyrus dac x with psxr and £500 dab8 radio not that special then id like to know what radio you use ? cd and radio is for background music only and my turntables are my main front ends.I have a garrard 401 with a rega rb300 with michel tecno weight and ortofon mc15.Tom evans phono stage and tom evans preamp.Or i use the michel gyro dec with orb platter and sme 4 tone arm with lara dorian cartridge into WAD valve phono and preamps and single ended triode 300b valve power amps.Maybe you think these are all nothing special also.What system do you own ?
 
johny dolan said:
I have tested 4 different coax leads and a optical all from my arcam delta cd transport and they all sounded different and the missing link dark art the clear winner.adfinni you think £1500 worth of cyrus dac x with psxr and £500 dab8 radio not that special then id like to know what radio you use ? cd and radio is for background music only and my turntables are my main front ends.I have a garrard 401 with a rega rb300 with michel tecno weight and ortofon mc15.Tom evans phono stage and tom evans preamp.Or i use the michel gyro dec with orb platter and sme 4 tone arm with lara dorian cartridge into WAD valve phono and preamps and single ended triode 300b valve power amps.Maybe you think these are all nothing special also.What system do you own ?
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No need to get your handbag out. I assumed you were a cyrus fanboy as all you mentioned was their kit. I don't understand most of the things in your post, well maybe a few manufacturers, but that's because Im not a vinyl man. Radio isn't my thing either, but now I see you really have some nice kit, and do know a little bit :p

I'm still starting out, and upgrading parts of my system, but at the moment am running some ATC scm-12 speakers, with a nice 13yr old arcam delta 290 amp and a heavily modified marantz cd-63 cd-player. The arcam is going this month for a class-D lyngdorf integrated amp to give the atcs some real power as it really is the weak link in the chain. Then il go back to getting some more headphones as i own a millett MAX hybrid amp to use with my grado hf-1s, and will be purchasing some sennheiser 650 with either slee solo or darkvoice vhinese tube amp to tuberoll some nice old N.O.S tubes with.

I only graduated last summer and am still a poor grad, but will eventually build my system up, but even now the ATCs produce the best sound I have ever heard froma setup, and really are the speakers for me.

Still my comments stand on the digital cables as I see them as an unnecessary expense. Although the missing link kits are very reasonable and would be the maximum I would spend, just for the quality materials they use for a reasonable expense, which I can really appreciate as a Materials Engineer.
 
Well when you said My £2000 radio is nothing special i guessed you either have extreme high end or you were taking the ****.Now ive read what you have i see you were taking the ****.http://dik.dolan.googlepages.com/WDsetupbig.JPG just the tone arm cost £1300 and the cartridge cost £500 the garrard system http://dik.dolan.googlepages.com/Garrard2.JPG the inside of the valve amp http://dik.dolan.googlepages.com/upskirtwithposhbitsampsmallpic.jpg im 50 year old grandad by the way im not just starting out and i know more than just a little bit.
 
Calm down, calm down. Trying to tell us how much each part your system is worth isn't big, and I very much doubt that anyone cares.

You entered the thread quoting how all this digital cables sound soo different, and started going on about how expensive your system is. Everyone has a different set of ears and I was trying to inform the OP that difference is soo small that it isn't worth thinking about. If you want to show off your gear go ahead and start a new thread or go post it in the *Post your kit thread stickied at the top*.

I think you need to get a sense of humor as it was obvious I was playing, with that nice tongue out face at the end of my comment. Now it's my turn to post some links to expensive audio:

http://www.karanacoustics.com/ampf.htm
- Solid state amp that costs £3800

http://www.resolutionaudio.com/
- Nice expensive cd players that cost thousands

Hey al, sorry for all of this. I recommend you try out a coaxial/optical cable off ebay that doesn't cost too much as the difference just isn't there. Have a look at the construction of the cable andmake sure it looks quite sturdy and will survive removal/installation a lot, as that's the only real important thing, how long it will last.

Save up some monies and upgrade in the future, or just be happy with what you have and never upgrade again, once you have the upgraditis you will never be able to get rid of it :)
 
Well you entered the thread telling everyone how my 2k radio is nothing special without the tongue out face when the kit you own is cheap tat.If you didnt want a fight then you shouldnt start one.You could have just posted your advise to the op without having a dig at my system now couldnt you.
 
Whislt digital IS digital, there is a difference between co-axial cable and optical. Optical using light is lossless, co-axial, using copper suffers loss, massively over distance.

Just worth bearing in mind.
 
But optical has to be converted from electrical to light, then light back to electrical. Coaxial is a pure electrical signal. Hench why optical has more jitter.
 
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