Toslink or Coaxial?

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So guys given the option which is the better digital Audio connection from a DVD player assuming both are available on the Amp??

My Current DVD player (Toshiba SD2109) has both connections as does my Amp (Yamaha RXV357) so while I'm waiting for my Denon DVD1920 (which has them as well) to arrive what interconnect should I be buying to use with them?

Thanks for the input.

Neil
 
james.miller said:
neither they are both the same. use whatever you have available, or whatever is cheaper:)
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Exactly.

Personally I use Optical cables as my AV Receiver hasn't got enough inputs and i've got a 3 to 1 optical switching thingy but the quality is identical to the Coaxial connection to my PC.
 
Thanks guys.

Well I do need a Toslink cable for my X-box so think I'll go along that route then for then DVD player as well.

Thanks again

Neil
 
toslink adds another step of conversion..

but they are both passing digital signals so unless you have really grotty connections or crazy line lenghts both should be identical
 
Yesterday I bought a 1m Monster THX optical cable to connect my Creative DDTS Decoder to my DVD player. Before I was using the optical cable supplied with the decoder and it looked very cheap and nasty, budget cabling so to speak.

I did a few tests using Dolby Digital sound output with the cheap optical and it sounded very dim I had to almost max the volume on the decoder to get any sort of surround sound!

I then used the Monster cable and the sound produced amazing, a lot more richer and vibrant throughout! I did spend just under 15squid for this 1m cable mind!!:)
 
that's just ridiculous. if there's a problem with the cable then the signal will either break or or be non-existant. it wont just 'make it quieter' - cables have no bearing on the loudness of digital audio.


i've seen no difference using £50 optical cables, £10 optical cables or some cheap rca cable i had laying around. Im using a yamaha av amp and mission speakers, not a creative decoder and pc speakers lol
 
It's digital, so (as said) it won't make a blind bit of difference.

Optical "Toslink" cables are quite fragile though. They don't like you putting sharp kinks in them usually and dust on either end could cause problems. But you can go unlimited distances with a Toslink and not have any problems. Whereas with a Coax it'd probably start encountering problems after just a few 10's of meters (don't quote me on that ;))
 
james.miller said:
that's just ridiculous. if there's a problem with the cable then the signal will either break or or be non-existant. it wont just 'make it quieter' - cables have no bearing on the loudness of digital audio.


i've seen no difference using £50 optical cables, £10 optical cables or some cheap rca cable i had laying around. Im using a yamaha av amp and mission speakers, not a creative decoder and pc speakers lol
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Well, on closer inspection to both cables and cable ends it looks like the standard optical doesn't have much of a 'polished' and kinda looks rough compared to the Monster one... would this make a diffrence?

The setup im currently running is great might not be as good as that ^ ^ but good enough for what I need, they aint just 'pc speakers' actually a 7.1 Gigaworks system that work quite well with my Samsung DVD player! :)
 
Ive never found it makes any difference whatsoever, using pretty good kit and not PC speakers. Ive tried a few different optical cables and the only reason i now run expensive ones is that they stay in better, i found cheap ones were forever coming lose and breaking the signal. Coax wise any old RCA lead split in half will work fine, as long as the signal is there it is there.
 
Jez said:
Coax wise any old RCA lead split in half will work fine, as long as the signal is there it is there.
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During my last week in electrical retail the *insert expletive*who stole £3.5k's worth of sales from me when I was borderline getting the sack due to poor sales figures called me over to back him up on why a customer 'needed' to spend a shocking £55 on a coax cable, to which I replied, "nah mate, the one you get in the box will do you just as well. These cables are good but OTT and about 80% pure profit" oops :o ;)
 
pats said:
Well, on closer inspection to both cables and cable ends it looks like the standard optical doesn't have much of a 'polished' and kinda looks rough compared to the Monster one... would this make a diffrence?
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No, like i said before - it'll either break up or not work at all. you can not control the loudness of digital audio with the cable.

The setup im currently running is great might not be as good as that ^ ^ but good enough for what I need, they aint just 'pc speakers' actually a 7.1 Gigaworks system that work quite well with my Samsung DVD player! :)
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They are still pc speakers and the point i was trying to make was that i have something much better than any pc setup (yamaha amp, mission speakers, 2x 12" HT subs) and there is no difference with cables on my system:)
 
hmmm, yeah I understand. It must be all in my head :)... while were on the subject of cables, does anyone have any of the Mark Grant coaxial cables?

Ive just orderd a Creative X-fi music card and im thinking of getting the soundcard coax cable (3.5mm jack to phono RCA) would it improve the overall sound if I was to get this cable? It would replace the creative breakout one supplied with the card.

Cheers
 
This whole discussion has said that there is no difference between digital cables, other than maybe physical cable quality.

So, i doubt it :)
 
Jez said:
This whole discussion has said that there is no difference between digital cables, other than maybe physical cable quality.

So, i doubt it :)
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True but it would be unsual to have a digital 3.5mm are you sure this isn't an analoge breakout? Usually there will be an optical digi out on soundcards so I suggest you use this with a cheap optical cable rather then spend out on this item.

MB
 
AFAIK some sound cards do indeed have 3.5mm digital output's, rare but i have seen them.
Agreed though, sounds like a waste of money :)
 
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