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Are there differing qualities of optical cable?

I currently have my Gungnir Multibit DAC connected by optical cable to my Oppo player which I use as a transport. I also have a Cardas coax cable connected to a different input.  The optical sounds better. My question is, are there different qualities of optical cable you can use, or is one the same as the other?
128x128rvpiano
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,659 posts
 
I got the glass cable before I heard of DH Labs or I would have.
(Still can I guess.)
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
I'm using one for the digital audio out from my tv to my DAC. 

My previous one was from Monoprice and the DH Labs outperformed it.

I haven't done any comparisons between different brands or in your case: what I was hoping, i.e. the same brand but different digital cable types.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Digital cables or Toslink do add jitter, so getting good ones will help. Add as little as possible.

I also thought that the best glass cable was the ticket, until I discovered a really outstanding plastic cable. I even use a 15-footer of this from my Smart TV to my SS processor:

https://btpa.com/TOSLINK-XXX.html

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Whatever type of optical you use, try a drop of the "indexing gel" with it as it couples the optical fibre end to the internal receiver minimising any refection, thus reducing jitter.

https://www.newport.com/f/index-matching-fluid

Cheers George 
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Jitter is not additive if you have a properly designed asynchronous DAC.

Again it is the equipment design and build which is key and not the cable. Incoming jitter becomes irrelevant if you have a DAC that ignores it.
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