DIGITAL OUT: Optical Cable vs. Coaxial Cable

There was no misunderstanding to be sorry for, Neil, at least as far as I am concerned. :)

I assumed that you were referring to impedance matching and maintaining waveform quality (so as to minimize jitter), and that is what I was responding to.

Best,
-- Al

I found the Wireworld SuperNova 5+ to be as good as very good SPDIF in my old rig. I do like the electrical isolation Toslink provides - I think it makes an important difference.

The other point is strictly practical - you can get a 3m Wireworld for the same or less as a good (but not insanely great) 1m SPDIF.

Al makes a good point. It is gear dependent. I use a Benchmark DAC1 partly because the claims by the manufacturer and most reviewers have indicated that it minimizes any jitter interface issues. Interface jitter is a problem but the right gear can eliminate the cable uncertainty issue. I have said this before - blame the equipment or the combination but not the cables.

Has anyone seen this Monster Cable Commercial?

Doesn't anyone get the suspicion that there are huge margins in audio cables and huge sponsorships (like sports gear)?

After all, cables are all made by cable manufacturers and not audio cable companies (who just place bulk orders to ordinary cable manufacturers).

Anyone get the idea that the magazine advertising revenues from audio cable companies might be huge?

I am rather suspicious of the justification for $1000's worth of cables. I suspect many reviews have a vested interest in maintaining the market for high priced cables and the advertising revenue it brings in.

But hey, I'm just a dumb engineer with tin ears...

Hello,

I too am suspect about the transfer of zeros and ones. Analog is an entirely different matter though. While I had difficulty believing that a coaxial cable could beat a direct digital transmission from an optical I was proven wrong recently by a simple A-B comparison between the two. The comparison was of similarly priced cables from inexpensive vendors on EBay. My inexpensive coaxial cable delivered an amazing difference in bass depth and information. I was proven wrong on my system. Coaxial is superior. I'm convinced that when I purchase any new equipment I will do the A-B comparison again so that I don't go for another ten years on presumptions rather than proof.

Sincerely,

Fwiw, I have found that the HDMI connection from my decidedly consumer level Panasonic BDP provides better sound than the Toslink for two channel redbook playback, using roughly equal priced ($50) cables. The Toslink is plactic fiber I believe. I didn't know what to attribute this to since there are so many variables including quality of the electronics in both paths on both ends. The Arcam AVR 400 receiver I use in this system may have better implementation for receiving audio signal through HDMI, dunno.

The easiest thing I can control are the cables. I was skeptical of differences in digital cable quality until I fooled around with various consumer brands of USB cables from Radio Shack and Frys for my computer audio system at work and found a clear difference in sound quality (HP branded cable won). I will try some of the cheaper medical instrument high thread count glass Toslink cables and see how they compare with the "budget" Audioquest I'm using now, and see what I get.