Is Optical Sound Quality Better?

Tommy B · 20 Apr 2006 at 17:18

Does using digital optical output via the X-fi actually improve quality over the standard analogue output?

If you had a 2 channel AMP that accepted both Optical and Phono inputs. Which would be better?

TooNice · 20 Apr 2006 at 17:33

Not necessarily. The optical out will simply bypass the DAC so something else will have to do the digital to analogue conversion. A good dedicated DAC is likely to do a better job than the X-Fi, but the ones built into MM speakers may not. I guess the amp you mentioned must also act as a DAC, otherwise I have no idea how it would work. You could test it, since it is hard to tell

Tommy B · 20 Apr 2006 at 17:37

TooNice said:
Not necessarily. The optical out will simply bypass the DAC so something else will have to do the digital to analogue conversion. A good dedicated DAC is likely to do a better job than the X-Fi, but the ones built into MM speakers may not. I guess the amp you mentioned must also act as a DAC, otherwise I have no idea how it would work. You could test it, since it is hard to tell

Isn't it more to do with the fact that via optical the sound quality isn't lost whilst being transported between the PC and the Amp?

fish99 · 20 Apr 2006 at 17:58

As TooNice said, try it and find out

All depends on which DAC is superior. Sure the digital out hasn't lost any data, but it's still got to go through a DAC at some point, and if that DAC were worse than the X-Fi one, you get a worse sound. Also depends on cable quality and the amount of interference in your PC case (which only affects analogue output).

james.miller · 20 Apr 2006 at 18:01

generally, if you want audio on the cheap then optical is far better. You can output a perfectly decent digital PCM 2 channel signal from a motherboard that is jsut as good as any digital signal from an x-fi, and better than analogue outputs from anythign up to an x-fi (ni general)

Analogue costs. A good analogue output will cost you, good leads to connect it to your analogue amp will cost you.

Tommy B · 20 Apr 2006 at 18:14

james.miller said:
generally, if you want audio on the cheap then optical is far better. You can output a perfectly decent digital PCM 2 channel signal from a motherboard that is jsut as good as any digital signal from an x-fi, and better than analogue outputs from anythign up to an x-fi (ni general)

Analogue costs. A good analogue output will cost you, good leads to connect it to your analogue amp will cost you.

At the moment I've got a very high quality jack>dual phono gold plated lead, it's ridiculously thick for what it is.

TooNice · 20 Apr 2006 at 18:21

Well, the interesting thing is that if I go digital out now, it'll probably end up costing me more. Dedicated DAC that outclasses (as opposed to being a little different/a little better) the Emu1212/Elite Pro are not cheap, so I'll save that upgrade in the future. In the mean time, analogue out will have to do

I do need a new cable though - but I am not willing to pay a big fortune for them.. just something above generic will have to do

PureAppleJuice · 20 Apr 2006 at 21:33

I think the difference between analogue and digital is quite heavily based upon what equipment you're using, sort of X-Fi and your standard 5.1 surround gear I should imagine you won't notice much, though i'm probably wrong.

FatRakoon · 24 Apr 2006 at 21:16

Not too long ago, I robbed my dads HiFi off him to compare the outputs of the NF7S and the SB Audigy 1 + Live Drive II against each other both normal and using the Optical with a good optical cable, and I have to say that with both the Audigy and the NF7S, the optical was a fair bit better, and it really opened my eyes to just how much difference it made.

The HiFi Model, I cannot remember right now, but its roughly about 15 years old, and its an Akai, which may surprise many of you when I say its a near-perfect output on it for Quality, even if the bass is a tad lacking compared to some of the HiFi kits I have had in my time, but anyway, I was comparing various outputs as I said, with some other Amps too... I got a JBL Dolby 6 channel digital and analog kit from my father that cost him £1700, I also got Altec Lansing 955 THX speakers that are at this time, my main speakers, and in my honest opinion, and that of my friends who heard them, the best quality setup I have had so far, is the NF7S using its soundStorm, with the Optical cable through to the old Akai Hifi... In fact, its better than my XFI to the 955's!!!

However, it also depends on what you would call better really?

Different styles of music can give you different ideas on what is, and what isnt a better speaker/amp system.
I myself Like a lot of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield etc and the occasional bit of Heavy Rock, and for that, I think that the NF7S or perhaps the VideoLogic Sonic Fury is the better card, with maybe the Altec Lansing 251 or the JBLs, however, the 955 have much better range, and so are better for the more slower, smoother stuff from Floyd, but the 251s seem better for the Rocky-er stuff ( Rockyer? )

Hang on, I am losing it here.

Ok, back to the HIFI... Yes, its got Both Optical and normal AUX inputs. I connected both AUX and OPTICAL to the SoundCard sources ( NF7S SoundStorm & Audigy Live Drive II ) and while playing various tracks, I kept swapping between them ( Which is instant of course ) and I can say without fear of beign wrong, that using the Optical cable gave a much crisper sound than the normal outputs.

The only reason I have not stayed with Optical is that I play a lot of games and I like 5.1 Audio, and the HiFi isnt mine, and the JBLs are too big ( And there I am with a TT Armour case & AL955 Speakers in a 3 foot space!!! )