Coaxial Vs Optical

jaybee · 22 Aug 2008 at 11:48

Completely agree. I can tell the difference between analogue cables when using a £30 one compared to the standard phono leads bundled with hifi gear, but digital Optical vs Coaxial. No difference at all. Anyone that tells you differently is probably someone that has spent a lot of money on digital cables

-Ad- · 22 Aug 2008 at 11:56

jaybee said:
Completely agree. I can tell the difference between analogue cables when using a £30 one compared to the standard phono leads bundled with hifi gear, but digital Optical vs Coaxial. No difference at all. Anyone that tells you differently is probably someone that has spent a lot of money on digital cables

There is a massive difference between optical and coaxial, optical uses light

DIY a coaxial cable or buy a cheapy optical cable.

oli collett · 22 Aug 2008 at 11:56

badbob said:
No there are transmission differences between optical and coaxial, and for analogue cables there is difference between supplied free ones and quality cables.

Except, no perceivable differences have ever been proven in any legitimate test -at least that i am aware of?

mrk · 22 Aug 2008 at 11:58

jaybee said:
Completely agree. I can tell the difference between analogue cables when using a £30 one compared to the standard phono leads bundled with hifi gear, but digital Optical vs Coaxial. No difference at all. Anyone that tells you differently is probably someone that has spent a lot of money on digital cables

So would you recommend I make my own Coax cable then? I have a 3metre qed jp2 analogue cable from pc to amp but like the idea of a digital coax or toslink cable. Sadly the supplied toslink cable with my Xonar is too short so I'd need to buy a 2 metre one at least or make a 2 metre coax one!

badbob · 22 Aug 2008 at 11:59

oli collett said:
Except, no perceivable differences have ever been proven in any legitimate test -at least that i am aware of?

Have for high-end Hi-Fi, more so when you use XLR AES-BEU connection

oli collett · 22 Aug 2008 at 12:03

badbob said:
Have for high-end Hi-Fi, more so when you use XLR AES-BEU connection

Could you link me to some tests? The only ones i've seen seem to demonstrate that a thick copper cable is just as good as any high end platinum coated or whatever stuff. The same was the case for interconnects.