toslink or coax for long cable?

Well, now that I have my 1050 it seems I need toslink cables everywhere. Have one from my DVD to the 1050 right now, and probably about to have one from my Xbox too. Also need a good way to hook my computer (upstairs) into the 1050 (downstairs). I have an mp3 server with lots of high-bitrate mp3s, and I want to run an out from this into one of the 1050's inputs.

Problem is I need a fairly long cable, 8m or so. Tried a cheap stereo audio cable, and not surprisingly, it sounded terrible. Since the 1050 has 2 toslink and 1 digital coax, and I will be using them all, would it be better to have the toslink or the digital coax be the long cable?

Also I will most likely be using a lesser grade of cable for the long one. An 8m digital coax from bettercables is $139, not sure if I can afford or not. Core sound can do a toslink up to 10m for $30 (which seems very cheap).

Any thoughts?

I do a lot of SAN engineering since this stuff works on the same principles the truth is that it shouldn't really matter. For cable management and getting around most types of magnetic and radio interferance etc... I would use optical as well as the fact that is easier to run but be careful not to bend it into a loop less than 3 inches as the glass will crack. Theoretically the optical should be able to carry better distance but anything in your house should be fine. This stuff isn't up to the same standards as a SAN per se but I can't wait til it is.

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Stott

If your snaking any cables, fiber or coax, through the walls you have to make sure that the insulation is rated for in wall installation.

Thanks all. Probably will go with coax for the long cable then, as I don't want to screw up the toslink pulling it through the floor, wall, etc. I managed to get the other cable through here but it was a bit rough.

How hard is it to make coax cable? Always figured it would be difficult, but also maybe difficult to find in-wall rated coax w/RCA ends (?).

Coax digital cables are easy to make with a little patience, and they will save you lots of money. I use Steve Rochlin's method: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/etmcable.htm

With that method you can get the 75 ohm coax at Home Depot. There are different grades of coax though. The best has 2 shields and 2 foils. LOL

I use Belden 1505A and it is still way cheaper than buying ready-made cables.