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Toslink Question ?

I have 4 toslink cables that I have been swaping from my cdp to pre/pro.Three of them sound the same.Detailed but at times overly detailed.The fourth cable makes the sound smoother with less detail but overall the sound is more pleasing although the music does not seem as fast.
My question, is the fourth cable damged and or introducing jitter.Can jitter actually distort the signal and make it smoother.
All toslink cables are not glass.Any thoughts.Thanks.
Shaun
shaunp
zephyr24069's avatar
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zephyr24069
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Thanks for the explanation; it makes sense. I agree given the distance, there is no way that is happening here on the cable itself...
johnnyb53
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I have often heard from various vendors that the biggest weakness of TOSlink is the connector itself--that the end of the fiberoptic bundle in the cable connector does not make optimum contact with the transmitter and receiver in the components. Some of my Toslink cables easily fall out of their sockets.

Monster Cable states that that's why their TOSlink connectors are spring-loaded--to keep the cable end in tight contact with the transmitter and receiver. I have no direct experience as to whether the Monsters work better.

The TOSlink mini-plug format shouldn't be as vulnerable to this.
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zephyr24069
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I've used Monster's best TOSLink cable years ago and did find their connectors were spring-loaded and connected to the source or destination unit very well. Of course, I also found that 1 pre/proc I utilized back then had variations in the size of the receptacle on some of the 4 TOSlink inputs. The connectors on Monster were spring-loaded and very good as stated however I did find that Audioquest OptiLink5 (possibly due to superior construction and materials on the cable itself) yielded a better fit and a better sound profile.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 

07-08-10: Zephyr24069
I've used Monster's best TOSLink cable years ago... I did find that Audioquest OptiLink5 (possibly due to superior construction and materials on the cable itself) yielded a better fit and a better sound profile.
How much more expensive was the AQ, and in your opinion, was the performance improvement worth it?
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zephyr24069
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The Interlink Reference and M-Series were/are in the $100 price range. The Optilink-5 from AQ retails at $495 today though you can get one for less on Audiogon/other sources. The difference to my ears in 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 was very noticeable.
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