optical or coaxial

[nbaptista]

What is the better cable(connection),coaxial or optical and why?

 

[Azzy]

the general consensus (at least the way I remember it!) is that Coax sounded better.
at least in the context of the classic 'disc transport to Dac' scenario

basic theory:

a proper 75 ohm rated coax cable should provide a very good electrical signal - job done

optical has the issue that the electrical signal is converted to light, transmitted down the optical cable and then changed back to an electrical signal at the other end - apparently many of these converters are usually cheap ass IC's that 'could be better'.

optical is good for avoiding grounding issues (glass/plastic is an insulater) - so no direct electrical contact between devices


reality: you'll probably not notice a difference, if you do & you prefer one presentation over another - use that one!



anyway Async USB is the new darling for digital...


J

 

[Peter Stockwell]

Depends on many factors, but a Dac maker told me that for a squeezebox classic optical was best, because of noise on the ground plane with the squeezebox.

 

[nbaptista]

I had a problem with the Dac Magic coaxial input so I´m using the optical.I bought a Profigold PGD 5000 and so far I prefer it to the Supra(coaxial)

 

[muzzer]

If you are going to continue using optical then try a cable with a glass core.

 

[nbaptista]

If you are going to continue using optical then try a cable with a glass core.

You may explain better?Glass core?What kind of cables on the market has glass core?
Like this?
http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=2482
mine is this
http://www.tvcables.co.uk/cgi-bin/tvcables/PGD5000.html

 

[muzzer]

Here is one from the budget but good end of the market
http://markgrantcables.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=40_17&products_id=40.
There are others that are more expensive.
Cables with a glass fibre centre core are considered by some to sound better than your std optical cable

 

[nbaptista]

Ah OK is a glass termination
Thank you

 

[Interzone]

I compared coax (flashback) and optical (belkin) through an OK system (SB touch>dac1 HDR>Krell>Shahinian Arc, also with senn hd650 direct from the benchmark) and couldn't tell the difference. YMMV

 

[muzzer]

The signal transmits down a glass fibre tube instead of the normal plastic.
Spacey uses one of these
http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html

 

[Fox]

One good reason to use optical is it electrically isolates the playback from the sources. In some cases this is a godsend. When I had a Benchmark DAC1 into my ATCs I did think about doing a comparison and I even started comparing the two inputs...

I got bored at hearing the same stuff over and over again so I went off to look at pornography instead.

 

[Interzone]

I got bored at hearing the same stuff over and over again so I went off to look at pornography instead.

Always the best solution. Certainly takes your mind off the minutiae hifi people worry about.......

 

[Azzy]

Always the best solution. Certainly takes your mind off the minutiae hifi people worry about.......

+1

 

[nbaptista]

and Profigold cables?Are they any good?

 

[muzzer]

I would try the Mark Grant ones, I think you can return them if not satisfied so nothing to lose.

 

[Maxbertola]

Depends on many factors, but a Dac maker told me that for a squeezebox classic optical was best, because of noise on the ground plane with the squeezebox.

To tell the truth, the only time I tried a Squeezebox Classic into a Benchmark DAC, I did like the optical connection better than the coax one.
M.