Glass v/s Plastic TOSLINK cables

I am reading the same kind of nonsense about how glass is warmer, crisper, less jitter, etc. I dont get it - how 1s and 0s that are transmitted thru glass warmer and crisper than when they go thru plastic ? so bottom line folks - is there a difference between the PCO sold by outlaw and the 100+ $ TOSLINKS made of glass ?
--Taizoon

It all comes down to the exactness of the transfer down the cable. In an optical transmission, the light does not travel straight down the middle of the cable it constantly bounces back and forth down the "sides". The better the reflective qualities of the interior of the cable, the less diffusion of the light from emitter to receiver. Blurring (diffusion) of the light can cause not just loss of data but mistaken data (and the more often it happens, the less likely the error correcting algorithms can correct it accurately). So, in short, the better the medium, the more exact a replication of the data through transmission.

so are the non glass types good enough or one is better off using coax instead for the digital coupling. would u use a PCA or PSC for the digital coax connection ?

I've used three different optical cables, none of them glass. I've also used several different coax digital cables. I could never identify any difference in sound between the optical cables. There were some slight differences in coax cables -- I have one coax cable that I thought sounded a little better than the opticals, but since my current DVD player only has an optical output I'm not using it. If I had a coax output, I'd probably be using it, but since I don't I'm using the PDO from Outlaw (which is significantly cheaper than the other two optical cables I've used). As for PCA or PSC for coax, use the PSC -- it's rated for 75ohm (digital coax and video applications), while the PCA is not.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I have never noticed a difference either...i have a cheap Radio shack cable and a nice monster cable for my DVD player and satellite respectively and I switched them around a few times to see if I could notice a difference and could not. The only advice I would give is that you should look for the shortest cable that works for you because in my experience, digital loss over length has been more a problem then the cable quality.

I tend to agree, by training and by years of experience, that in the digital realm, if the correct information arrives at the other end within the tolerances of the equipment that handles jitter, 'fuzz' and other maladies that would appear if you looked at the signal in an analog sense, the information will be interpreted correctly by the receiving equipment. So, and especially for a short run, glass or plastic, no bottom line difference as long as the cables are in good condition.

The only choice I would debate is optical vs. coax. Again, it's not the medium of the transfer, it's what happens at the receiving end. Someone 'in the know' with regard to the digital protocols of Toslink vs. coax has said that the Toslink was a 'cheaply' designed system and that the coax would give a better data transfer, not becuase of the transfer medium, but because of the data handling protocol.

But then again, if in critical listening, you can't tell the difference, then choose what you like!

Toslink is an "economy" implementation of an optical interface. Really good optical drivers/receivers are several hundred dollars each.

Glass optical medium has less loss (important for miles of cable run from the entertainment center room to the family room). For runs of more home-frindly distances, high quality plastic is fine.

In the case of optical interconnects (v.s. electrical interconnects), there is the additional electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion.

For my use, I use electrical connectors to take the audio digital bitstream (Dolby digital, DTS, or whatever) from my DVD player to my receiver. Beings this audio bitstream is already compressed with a lossy algorithm, I do not have high-end audio expectations for it and therefore I would not be broken-hearted if I had to use the optical connector.

As far as using the optical or electrical audio bitstream to supply CD pcm data to the receiver, no way. The DACs in my DVD player and my CD/SACD player are much better than those in my AV receiver.

Paul

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the 1derful1

Paul:I agree that the DAC on my DVD player is better than the Rcvr. Should I be then using the 5.1 output from the DVD to feed into the Rcvr ?
thanks
--taizoon

If the DVD player has clearly better dacs, then use the 5.1 outputs (6 cables needed) to feed the signal to the receiver.

Until recently (and only on a very amall % of players), there were no sacd or dvd-a (high rez) digital outputs/inputs on equipment. Only CD pcm or digital dolby or dts could be passed.

Paul

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the 1derful1