Toslink vs. Coaxial

Well, all the manufacturers recommend coaxial over Toslink. So, why not use the coaxial?

Hasaw, This topic has been covered many times before, and the consensus is that coax is considered by 98% of the people to be better than Toslink, although I am sure that in sdcampbells particular circumstances that he is correct. You have some nice gear and I think if you were listening to good cables that you would hear a diference between Toslink and coax, but be careful, in 5.1 channel mode the difference is not as obvious as in stereo.

In my experience, coax is sonically better. If you use toslink, try Kimber Kable's. It is what I use in my car audio system.

Happy listening!

The superiority of one format ( coax ) over the other ( toslink ) is all equipment dependent. Under most circumstances, the coaxial SHOULD fare better due to having to go through two less converters. Using the coax, the digital signal from the transport remains digital and is fed directly into the digital to analogue converter. Using the Toslink, the transport must convert the digital signal into an optical signal and feed the Toslink cable. This in turn feeds the input of the external DAC which converts the optical signal back into a digital signal. More work and and a longer signal path typicall results in degradation of signal and resolution. This is not to say that the Toslink won't work okay, but you do have the opportunity for greater loss or increased colouration of the signal. Sean
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Hasaw. Optical done properly will outperform coaxial, but doing optical properly is very expensive and rarely available in home audio. Toslink (as opposed to AT&T or Single Mode) is cheap stuff and is way short of what coaxial can achieve. The most obvious sound difference is that Toslink sounds smoother, but less detailed and thinned down. Recently manufacturers have begun to improve the quality of Toslink stuff and the new DACs are better at removing jitter. But you are still better off with a coaxial cable.