Digital Cable: Coaxial vs. Optical

[navier_stokes]

As I understand it, there isn't really a consensus between which is the better although they both have their disadvantages.

Which would the PH audiophiles recommend, and what particular cable (Chord, QED etc) would you go for? Not a very large budget, say £30-£40, but it's for my only source -> DAC so I want to get the best out of it.

[DavidY]

If the source is inherently noisy like a PC with a soundcard I would go Optical, if it's not I would go Co-Axial. A decent quality cable with decent terminations is all you need. I have some Chord and Some QED cables, not too audio foo and well made

davidy

[navier_stokes]

DavidY said:

If the source is inherently noisy like a PC with a soundcard I would go Optical, if it's not I would go Co-Axial. A decent quality cable with decent terminations is all you need. I have some Chord and Some QED cables, not too audio foo and well made

davidy

Could you recommend any in particular?

Source is a squeezebox... have you compared optical vs digital with your SB+?

[DavidY]

navier

I'm a bit of a SB addict, I have 2 x Duet, 1 x SB+, 1 x SB3, 2 x SB2 and a Boom. Mad maybe? but I have great music all over my house!

I've only ever used Co-ax output on the units, as my AV Processor only has one optical input and thats used on another device.

I have tried the digital co-ax output at various times of SB2, SB3, Duet and SB+. Even though the SB+ has a different SP/DIF output my AV Processor (Meridian 568.2) has reclocking and FIFO technology, so it sorts outs the 1's and 0's very well (with good timing), and I've not notivced any difference between the units.

With the SB devices I have used Chord Co-Ax cables, the Chord Prodac (they usually sell for around £40-£45 but around £25 on eBay, there are a couple on thier now). I'm just not sad enough to compare digital cables, my view is that as long as they have decent termination and are made from decent cable, they will all sound the same!

HTH

davidy

[navier_stokes]

DavidY said:

navier

I'm a bit of a SB addict, I have 2 x Duet, 1 x SB+, 1 x SB3, 2 x SB2 and a Boom. Mad maybe? but I have great music all over my house!

I've only ever used Co-ax output on the units, as my AV Processor only has one optical input and thats used on another device.

I have tried the digital co-ax output at various times of SB2, SB3, Duet and SB+. Even though the SB+ has a different SP/DIF output my AV Processor (Meridian 568.2) has reclocking and FIFO technology, so it sorts outs the 1's and 0's very well (with good timing), and I've not notivced any difference between the units.

With the SB devices I have used Chord Co-Ax cables, the Chord Prodac (they usually sell for around £40-£45 but around £25 on eBay, there are a couple on thier now). I'm just not sad enough to compare digital cables, my view is that as long as they have decent termination and are made from decent cable, they will all sound the same!

HTH

davidy

Cheers, looks like eBay is definitely the way to go on this one!

[Plotloss]

Coax all day long

[JustinP1]

Plotloss said:

Coax all day long

You know, thats what I used to assume as a given.

Now, doing some detailed testing I am not so sure the difference is that great. Of course if you compare a freebie optical cable with a good co-ax you might hear a difference.

However, in testing between a £100 optical and a £400 co-ax I failed to hear a difference at all.

[P700DEE]

Optical

[Alex]

There is no difference in quality between optical and coaxial.