optical vs. coax digital input

landry_p2000

Me personally I have both of my systems hooked up with a single optical cable. Does any one else feel that optical has a better sound quality than coax? Or, Do you feel there is not much difference in the two digital hook-ups for sound? I know these are simple connections, and probably not as advanced as some of you other guys, but I am just curious.

Early B.

Doesn't matter.

marcpam

coaxial

danger boy

6 of one.. half dozen of the other.

some people like coax better.. because construction of the cable seems to be stronger than optical.

scottvamp

optical
or read the other 1000 dead horse threads.........
Use the search feature!!!!;)

PolkWannabie

Coax ... there is usually less circuitry in the path ...

AsSiMiLaTeD

coax

scottvamp

OPTICAL
Die horse die!!!:p

wallstreet

bits is bits. unless u've got 8 (ebcdic) or 7 (ascii) and then you got a byte. The better one is the one that is least expensive.

gregure

I switched from an $80 optical to the Silver Serpent coax from Bettercables.com and found the sound quality to be much superior.

scottvamp

sound quality to be much superior

Your one of the first - how much was the BC coax/feet?

Zen Dragon

There are benefits to both, and the ears give the final answer. I switched from optical to coax (cept for DTS movies) The sound is a tad warmer. The main advantage to the optical is the full DTS digital surround with much less compression. If I've got a DTS encoded movie in, it's optical only.

dorokusai

No optical cables in my rack, and their never will be be. Coax is King.

You can receive full DTS with digital coaxial...compression? What are you smoking Dragon?

landry_p2000

The small system in my bedroom came with a coax cable, but I got an optical when I purchased it. There seemed to be a more solid connection with the coax cable. The sound was more clean on Dolby Digital movies, and on DTS the sound made it hard to tell the difference between the cables. I will try it with my Polk/Onkyo system which is currently ran through a MONSTER optical cable. So far coax seems to be looking good.

Zen Dragon

You can receive full DTS with digital coaxial...compression? What are you smoking Dragon? [/B][/QUOTE]

I smoke what and when nature wanders my way, but seriously. My sytem will only output DTS5.1 through optical. I only get Dolby Digital 5.1 through coax. My understanding between the two is the level of compression is heavier on the Dolbly Digital. See the supporting article from DVD review.

"First of all, what is DTS? DTS is an audio format, like Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround or PCM, all of which are commonly used on DVD releases. Surround formats like Dolby Digital are compressed formats and have been chosen for DVD in order to allow up to 6 separate audio channels on a disc, without having too much of a data throughput. Since we are now in the digital domain, data throughout can become a serious problem, if the hardware is unable to shovel data through the bus as quickly as it is needed. General space restrictions on DVD discs also come into play and due to the compression of the Dolby Digital audio format it is possible to have three or more 5.1 channel Dolby tracks on a single layered, single sided disc, if the film is of average length. Compression however comes at a cost, and the cost in the case of Dolby Digital is fidelity and limited dynamics. Just as we can see compression artifacts in the picture of DVD if it is poorly done, we can also hear compression artifacts in the sound of a DVD disc if it is poorly or heavily compressed. And that is where DTS can make a difference. DTS stores all discrete channels in a data stream with substantially less compression than Dolby Digital does, and can only be played back through DTS capable equipment. Since the compression is much less, the degradation of the signal you are hearing is significantly lower as well, resulting in a higher fidelty."

dorokusai

Smoke it up

I understand why you are doing what you are doing now...it is perfect for your application, and neccesary.

That whole quote has nothing to do with interconnects per se...optical or digital coaxial will give you the same end result, period. The two differ in their capacity, which is not audible in this case, and the way they reject interference. In the case of audio, it makes zero difference....only your ears, hear the difference.

Fiber can carry more data, but we aren't talking massive bandwidth in this case....it isn't a cable running 50,000 phone lines....it's just an interconnect running 5-7.1 surround sound...that's extremely low on the scale of capability. In other words, who gives a shite.

landry_p2000

I do, that's why I asked. It looks as if I am going to stay with optical on the Onkyo. I may change the coax on my other system back to optical. It is a difference on DTS optical. It is not as compressed as on DTS coax. Thanks guys.

dorokusai

I don't know where this compression idea comes from, but have fun, it's your gear.

PhantomOG

i think they are confused by the fact that Dolby Digital encoding inherently does more audio compression than DTS, which means it takes up less space on the DVD but at the expense of sound quality.

HOWEVER, this has nothing to do AT ALL with optical or digital coax. BOTH DTS and Dolby Digital can be sent through BOTH optical and digital coax. Just because your system can't for some reason, doesn't mean that it is not possible.

DTS through optical is exactly the same as DTS through digital coax.

RuSsMaN

I'm in the Coax camp.

Whether or not I can hear a difference is moot to me. The fact I have to make 2 extra 'jumps' with optical (to light and back) messes with my noggin too much.

Cheers,
Russ

dorokusai

That is probably dead on Phantom, they will figure it out eventually.

PhantomOG

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
The fact I have to make 2 extra 'jumps' with optical (to light and back) messes with my noggin too much.

The final project for my first EE class (introductory) at school involved building a device that would take the line-out from a cd player, convert it to an optical signal, travel through 6 meters of optical cable, then convert it back and power a pair of 8-ohm speakers. For extra credit my group also made an 8 band equilizer to adjust the signal. Definitely a cool introduction to electrical engineering.

Anyways, the project would have been alot simpler without the "optical" step in there so I think your feelings are well founded. However, as I said, this was an introductory course so the "jumps" are not that complicated.

landry_p2000

Well guys, I didn't ask the question to get my head bit off. I was just curious about the two connections. If you get the same end result, I guess it doesn't matter. I will be trying coax anyway just for the hell of it. Thanks for your input, it helped me out.:o

dorokusai

Nobody is biting your head off. It's a little hard to get the tone of what is said when you type it, none of the above from anyone is meant to be anything but help.

You may in fact hear a difference, but it's due to interconnect construction not "compression" of the audio signal.

landry_p2000

Thanks. I will run coax for a while on both systems. I just want to get the understanding as well as I can about sound transfer via digital coax and optical. It seems that more people like coax over optical. It's just a matter of what you hear I guess. This helps alot. I am now aware that the signals are the same. Thank you guys! What coax cable do you recommend Dorokusai?:D

dorokusai

You are 100% right, it's what you hear on the working end....not this forum end There are many options, just make sure the coaxial is rated at 75ohm, which most digital cables should be anyhow. I am a Signal Cable fan, but you could also check out Blue Jeans Cable and Heartland. I prefer SC's terminations and Scosche connectors, to the Canare brand.

www.signalcable.com

www.bluejeanscable.com

www.heartlandcables.com

landry_p2000

MAN I really like what I saw on SIGNALCABLE.COM. I may end up replacing my old cables with new Signal Cables. Thanks alot. How did you hear about this sight?

dorokusai

Frank Dai, the owner, has always been a supporter of the Polk forum. Russman got the relationship going ages ago. Frank gives Polk Forum members a 5% discount for all purchases, which is basically free shipping.

landry_p2000

Thanks alot.

KCT

As far as coax vs. optical is concerned, optical has the advantage that it
separates the ground between the two units. This will prevent a ground loop
with its attendant hum. In addition, optical cable is immune to noise pick-up
(EMI) because it is not metallic.

ben62670

KCT wrote:

As far as coax vs. optical is concerned, optical has the advantage that it
separates the ground between the two units. This will prevent a ground loop
with its attendant hum. In addition, optical cable is immune to noise pick-up
(EMI) because it is not metallic.

Thank you for pulling up this thread. My run is short so interferance isn't a problem. The optical from my computer will be a 75 foot run, to much for coax with floresents. I can see clearly now.
Thanks you sir
Ben