2. digital
  3. 1313954272

S/Pdif vs. Toslink

I picked up a Musical Fidelity V-Link to use between my Macbook and my Cambridge 840 CDP. The V-Link can send data to the CDP via either S/Pdif or Toslink. I went with the Tosslink but more on a whim that with any actual reason.

Does anyone have a preference for Toslink over S/Pdif, or vice versa? Just curious what people are using and why.

Regards
grimace
loomisjohnson
1,944 posts
 
grimace, i foolishly thought the v-link was a dac, not just a usb to spdif converter. i'm sure you've made a substantial upgrade--enjoy.
wolf_garcia
6,702 posts
 
As it was explained to me by my local high end salon, Toshiba's "toslink" wasn't very well designed in the first place, and requires that a digital signal be turned into light and then back again to current, which seems unnecessarily complicated unless you're VERY worried about hum (for shorter runs anyway)...I use decent AQ solid core coax into my DAC and it seems to work very well.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i have preferred spdif, possibly because of the greater variety in materials used for spdif cable construction.
nickjn
111 posts
 
S/pdif vs toslink? i think both have the same potential. Both are just sending digital data.
More to discover