The best digital audio out of coaxial, or optical?

Click on this link for a Forum thread that includes a listening comparison for different cables, digital media, etc.:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1196311011&openmine&zzBruce_1&4&5#Bruce_1

"significant number of our Audiogon membership has never done a comparison with a high quality Toslink cable."

Mt10425

I wouldn't be so sure........"Q".

Mariusz.S.

Chris,Welcome to the Gon. Cyrus

Coax is generally superior to the plastic Toslink cables. Those that use a Quartz or Glass conductor can be very good, however they tend to be much more expensive.

One nice thing about optical is that it does not link the grounds of the two components like a metal cable does, which can help resolve ground loops and even minor sonic issues.

AES/EBU properly implemented tends to be better than either.

Toslink, no matter the quality, is no comparison to SPDIF.
The reason is that to create the optical signal it must go through an additional optical EMITTER and an optical RECEIVER in addition to the rest of the circuitry. All things being equal those optical devices mess up the signal.