Which is better Coax or Optical cables

When you had the Exogal did you use coax or optical. Did you keep the cable when you got rid of the dac. Then use that cable firstt if you get a new dac
Alan

If OP intends to add a DAC with 105D, he should use USB not coax or optical because 105D can handle native DSD only via the digital USB input on the rear of the unit(not the USB input on the front!). When I did so, I found an improvement also adding Schiit Wyrd, or iFi USB filter unit.
If you don't care about DSD, then ignore my suggestion. Cheers,
Spencer

My vote would also be coax. So many brands available, but I would add Black Cat Cables to your list. These are designed by the same guy that designed the Illuminati digital cable.

I have always preferred Digital Coax, but must admit that the new DH Labs Glass Master Toslink does indeed sound more analog with no loss in resolution.  The people on this board touting Glass Optical Cables are correct.

Most of my listening in recent years has been via a solid desktop audio system, which I've repeatedly upgraded over the past 2 years. In that time I used 4 different DACs, with signal coming from a 24/96 Musical Fidelity S/PDIF converter, which I upgraded to the 24/192 M.F. unit ~9 months ago. On all 4 DACs I compared USB to coax; on 2 of the 4, I compared also USB & coax to toslink/glass.

Here's what I heard:

1 - Coax sounded better to me with all 4 DACs. The difference was not particularly large: but was certainly audible.

2 - In all cases, coax sounded more relaxed, a bit less edgy/glassy--a more expansive, enjoyable sound vs USB and toslink/glass.

3 - In all cases, I heard these differences both through speakers and  headphones (4 different headphones).

The problem with coax (the opportunity, as well) is there are so many brands, designs & differing costs. No one can listen to all the coax cables that get mentioned/praised in reviews and forums. I began  with an inexpensive Billy Jeans 1.5M coax, which I preferred to USB (Belkin Gold) or SonicWave "Impact" toslink/glass.

Then, based on favorable reviews from sources I trust, I upgraded to a 1.3M cable by Oyaide (DR-510), ~$220 shipped direct from Japan. It immediately sounded better than the BJs in every way--again, rather subtle but welcome differences.

My current DAC is IMO endgame-quality: Audio GD NOS 19 (an R2 R, non-oversampling design). It's 5 months old & has the latest Amanero USB implementation. This is a very fine sounding unit, and the Oyaide coax pushed it even further in the direction of relaxed (yet more than sufficiently detailed), analogue-like sound.

I will soon replace the M.F. 24/192 converter with the Singxer SU-1, which has been very favorably reviewed in multiple publications & platforms. I will revisit the USB vs coax vs glass with the SU-1.

Pls note that in all cases, the USB signal is conveyed via a USB Regen device.