Optical cables

mac1st3

mac1st3

mac1st3

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So I work in one of those seedy blue shirted *spits* crap holes we all generally avoid, and while I know a decent HDMI cable will make a fair bit of difference when compared side by side, picture for picture with a cheap crappy HDMI cable, but what about Optical cables for sound?

after all, they're just fiber optics, no interference from nearby electronics, but is there really a difference between a £10 cable and a £50 cable?

Just bought a soundcard with Optical output, and connecting it to my theater system, so just seeing whether a cheap cable is going to be noticably terrible as opposed to the £50+ ones that come on velvet cusions and are accompanied by choirs wherever you go :p
 
A decent HDMI cable won't make any real difference over a cheapy HDMI cable if you had otherwise identical equipment running side by side. The only noticeable differences there are going to be with long cable runs. I say this from experience, as will many other people - my £3 HDMI cable looks absolutely 100% identical in terms of picture quality compared to my £100 value cable (which I didn't pay for, I'm not a mug ;)).

Based on my own experiences I will also say the same about optical cables. I've never noticed any sound quality differences whatsoever with any I've used, whether they're the ridiculously expensive ones or the £1 ebay jobbies.

Otherwise the only real differences are going to be in terms of build quality - ie. connectors that won't fall off on you, etc.
 
I've got a £30 1m optical cable (QED) that i got free with an amp and also a 5m £5 cable. Both myself and my cousin did a blind test and we didn't know which was which. The sound to our ears was identical.
 
yea, this is pretty much what I was expecting, I have however found a difference in HDMI cables personally, not a massive amount, but enough to notice a slight difference when compared side by side, mostly it was how black the blacks were, and when there was a hoover/microwave on lol

but that's all cool, thanks for the info guys, cheapo cable to the rescue!
 
I know it's being answered already but I find the same as well. I have a £2.99 optical cable and a quality £30 one which got rave reviews on hifi sites. I cannot for the life of me tell the difference except the £30 cable is better built and far more likely to last longer.
 
Greebo said:
I know it's being answered already but I find the same as well. I have a £2.99 optical cable and a quality £30 one which got rave reviews on hifi sites. I cannot for the life of me tell the difference except the £30 cable is better built and far more likely to last longer.
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The build quality will be the only the difference.

For the most part, cables are just a huge con.

Why on earth would they make GOLD PLATED optical cables otherwise?

It's just an excuse to plaster "premium" and other nonsense on the packaging.

As for HDMI cables, any differences you will see will be down to an INADEQUATE cable rather than one being "better" than the other.
 
My Cambridge audio optical which cost £20 for 0.5m was well made except the bit of plastic that connects to the amp, which broke really easy making the cable useless.
Replaced it with a £1 ebay jobby which is a lot more rugged.

Build quality cannot add 2000% to the cost of making the cable. There will be no sound difference in a optical cable, only build quality and even then thats subjective.
The answer - Buy cheap, even if you replace it a few times it will still work out cheaper.
 
They perform exactly the same. Still, I spend all off £5-6 on Fisual ones as they're more flexible and have better connectors than the bog standard black plastic ones that feel as solid as cable ties. There might be cheaper ones than Fisual, just the only ones I know and the price is fine for me.

Preferably I use coax as it gives more flex and a better connection still.
 
Just buy what you can afford.

I spent £9 on 2x optical cables to connect an 8 channel Audient pre-amp to my RME Fireface 800 audio interface for 8 channels of 96kHz into my DAW. I A/Bed the difference with a £40 optical cable off a certain professional audio etailer and the difference in sound quality...wait for it...absolutely none!

In light of this, I would be surprised if a cheap optical couldn't handle 5.1 channels @ 48kHz for home audio use :P
 
hughythomas said:
Just buy what you can afford.

I spent £9 on 2x optical cables to connect an 8 channel Audient pre-amp to my RME Fireface 800 audio interface for 8 channels of 96kHz into my DAW. I A/Bed the difference with a £40 optical cable off a certain professional audio etailer and the difference in sound quality...wait for it...absolutely none!

In light of this, I would be surprised if a cheap optical couldn't handle 5.1 channels @ 48kHz for home audio use :P
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That wouldn't be due to being cheap, it'd simply be inadequate.
 
Yamahahahahaha said:
The best optical cable will have many small pieces of fibre optic inside.

The cheapo toslink stuff just has plastic cladding as the conductor, obviously not as good.
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Best though? Best what? As this wouldn't make a difference to "sound quality".
 
My advice would be to buy optical and/or HDMI cables as cheap as you can find them on ebay. They either work or they don't. Don't feel "dirty" buying one for £2.99 delivered. It will still work as would a £100 one. You won't see a difference. Anyone who says you will, is just trying to justify their mistake in purchasing one at high cost.
 
kylew said:
Why on earth would they make GOLD PLATED optical cables otherwise?
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Because it's gold stolen from leprechauns, which makes the light travel even faster through the cable.

Who needs high quality sleeving and classy looking cables when you can put that money towards a better sound system or gfx card. If the cable gets damaged buy another cheap one. I too am a blue-shirt and sell stupidly priced cables, we are targeted on them because they make ridiculous margin.
 
kylew said:
Why on earth would they make GOLD PLATED optical cables otherwise?
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If people fall for that when buying an optical cable they deserve to be ripped off!

Theres one thing saying a hdmi/speaker wire etc can be subject to interference. But to say an optical cable needs shielding/better interconnects is just stupid!
 
The cable being cheap has nothing to do with whether or not it can handle 5.1 at 48khz, I think he meant. If it can't then it's just a crap cable, whether it's cheap or not.
 
Optical cables have come along way since the 80s and even in the last few years. Even cheap ones can easily carry the full 5.1 channels at 48kHz. Therefore, I shouldn't worry - like I said just buy whatever you can afford.

Thanks in part to the highly saturated market and lots of competition from cable manufacturers, you would be hard pressed to buy a toslink cable that didn't do it's job properly. I did a whole module on digital audio on my degree and found this website to very useful:

http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/toslink-interconnect-history-basics

It goes in to quite a bit of detail over the history of toslink and Sony/Phillips digital interface standards. Might be worth a read.
 
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