Optical and Coaxial each have their benefits and much of what works best will depend on the individual transport and DAC that you select. A transport with a well implimented optical output combined with a DAC that has a poor optical input circuit may work like crap and vice-versa for the coaxial version of the same system.
Having said that, the general thought is that optical has to undergo an extra set of conversions, making it potentially less accurate. Here's why: a digital signal is transmitted from the transport through a coaxial cable at RF frequencies to a digital input at the DAC and is then converted to analogue. In other words, it is read in digital form, transmitted in digital form and then converted to analogue. Digital to analogue = 2 steps.
Now contrast that to an optical system. The digital signal is read off of the disc. That digital data now has to be converted to an optical signal in the transport. It is then fed through the toslink as a light based signal into the DAC. The DAC receives it as a light signal and then converts it back into digital. Then that digital signal is converted to analogue. Digital to optical to digital to analogue = 3 steps.
With all of that in mind, if i were starting out, i would pick up one of the glass toslinks available here on Agon for about $30 and go from there. There are MANY different cables available and being able to compare / contrast toslink to coaxial designs can be quite interesting. My experience is that the "cheap" glass toslink will be a superior method of signal transfer than even some of the more expensive yet lower quality coaxial designs. I'm not saying that the glass toslink is the best that you can get, only that it offers a very solid yet inexpensive place to start. Sean
>
