Optical Toslink splitter


An respected Audiogon member some time ago expressed doubts about signal loss associated with use of a splitter, so that one digital optical output could feed two components.
I recently had an application where a splitter was the solution. I wanted to interconnect an HT setup that has Direct TV Satelite service and my audio system, located in different rooms on different electrical power circuits. (This is so that I can access the music channels on my good audio stuff). Not surprisingly, a wire hookup produced hum. An optical interconnection would avoid this. The Direct TV receiver has only one digital output, optical.

The optical connection consists of a 3 foot interconnect, a splitter (several $ from Parts Express) and another 3 foot interconnect to the HT amp, and a 12 foot interconnect to the audio system.

Bottom line is that it works fine. Fears of problems due to signal loss (roughly 8dB) are unfounded. Fear not to use a splitter.
eldartford
Unclejeff....In the analog world, signal to noise ratio has a direct effect on sound quality. The signal is the sound. Even a slight degradation will have some effect.
Digital is different. Signal degradation has no effect until it reaches a point where the information being transmitted is corrupted. The signal is not the sound. The information being transmitted is used to generate the signal that is the sound. This is the D/A function.
Analog goes downhill gradually. Digital goes over a cliff.
It is my simple observation that a splitter does not, in practice, drive you over that cliff. Clean digital lines are desirable, but largely cosmetic rather than functional.
Does any company make a splitter?
I can recall Sony had a
3 optical in: 1 optical out unit back in 1999.
I cut the ad out of my Home Theater mag.
Since then, I`ve NEVER seen one.
Let me know if there is 1 out there,
But NOT Sony!
Isellstuff...What you describe would be an active (powered) device, and would cost more than "several" dollars. I think that Partsexpress.com has such a device. They also have a manually actuated optical switch. It would be used if your amp had too few inputs for the sources you want to connect. My application was the oposite situation.
However, the passive splitter might work in reverse so long as only one source is powered up at a time.