Is anyone using a converter to connect a Toslink source output to a Coax input? Are there any signal loss/degradaton issues in doing so??

[This message has been edited by drhb (edited June 23, 2004).]

no, and yes there is always going to be some loss on a conversion similar to that. however i doubt it is noticeable, and the ability to connect the device how you want/need to would surely outweigh the small loss of insertion/conversion.

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For my Sony mega-changer, which only has toslink digital output, I use a Monarchy DIP Upsampler. The DIP allows toslink input with coaxial output. It also reduces jitter and upsamples to 48k or 96k. The change in sound quality was quite noticeable.

Exactly what loss would you always have with that type conversion?

Edited to correct spelling error.



[This message has been edited by Cliff Watson (edited June 23, 2004).]

no "lose", but the loss would be converting light to electronic waves. or vice versa. CONVERSION OF ENERGY.

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More accurately, conversion of signal format from an electrical form to an optical form (or vice versa). With a digital signal, it would be possible for a few bits to get lost along the way. Those lost bits should be effectively inaudible (after all, there's inevitably a little data loss anyway, but it is handled by error correction during D/A conversion). Unless the optical-to-coax converter is very poorly implemented, there should not be any measureable degradation of the analog signal produced at the receiver or pre/pro.

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Jamingc, can most users justify a $250 expense just to make the conversion...assuming that the difference is indeed real (wonder if any double blind testing of this converter vs. a standared converter, was ever made...)

This type of conversion is relatively easy since in reality the Toslink signal is converted to an electrical signal anyway inside the 950 and other components so the circuits can process them. There are various freestanding boxes that perform this conversion too.

It is absolutely lossless in any but the poorest engineered components.

A double blind test is not needed when many tests have been done comparing the original bits to the bit stream after conversion. The error rate was nonexistent.

Placing an optical converter in the path is the same thing as connecting it to the optical input on a receiver/preamp.

if one had to output their digital signal as coax, then convert it to optical for connection. that would be a lot of unnecessary converions... ironic that i recall someone complaining about component video switching in a processor (due to loss?) and yet defending this. no switching/conversion of a signal is ideal, everytime it happens there can be losses. better converters/switchers limit this to low levels.

everyone knows that ideally there would be only one conversion in a digital audio signal, that from digital to analog with all the processing done digitally.

as i said in my first post, if you have no other choice but convert the signal to make it connect, then the point is moot and connecting is better than worrrying about bits of data being lost. if however you can leave the signal in one form, then do so. it would be better to buy a new cable than to buy a converter to utilize the cable that you already have...

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