Optical leads

[wee tee cee]

I run an optical lead from my v-link mk1 to my BM MK2 ,sadly I was hoping they would all be much of a muchness. I have a cheapo plastic string thing/£5 5m amazon job/atlas/and Mark Grant glass.

Nothing too esoteric but having swapped about trying them to my ears the MG glass is noticeably the cleanest and most open sounding without any treble hardness........had a session on the cans with the new Jimi Album..... magic(hell and angels) switched to the hi fi........quite noticeable differences.

Have ordered one of Stans be nice to get members opinions and experience re optical.......have always used MG co-ax in the past.

[StanleyB]

When I was designing and testing the optical signal route from the tip of the TOSLINK connector output and going all the way to the digital receiver input I used the cheapest optical lead that I could find. I then removed all possible signal obstacles till I could get that cheap lead to flawlessly perform at even 192KHz.
So anything better than a £1 TOSLINK lead will give an improved performance.

http://www.homehifi.co.uk/aos/tostest.jpg

[wee tee cee]

Its maybe just me but the Atlas sounds very similar signature wise to theyre ICs and Speaker wire......slightly pronounced treble and bass with a soft overall presentation.
Put the MG glass back in and everything opened up and no real signature was evident......don't know if he still sells them had mine a few years now.

[DaveK]

@ Wee TC,
Mark Grant is your friend ;) - speaking from experience with upgraded 7520 FWIW - talk to Gaz about the upgrades 'cos he did similar 'n' 'is memory's better than mine - up to and beyond Caiman spec IIRC.
Dave.

[wee tee cee]

Dave Im running a BM MK2 ......very happy with what it is doing just exploring the optical side of things. My whole system is wired with MG wires/TQ black speaker cable that was terminated by him also....

just looking for a steer optical wise nothing too pricey though!

[Fi-Wi]

MG seems to have dropped opticals, at least I can't find them on his website. Maybe he lost trust in them. :lol:

After last weekends quest on the net, neither party in the glass-vs-plastic-debate has convinced me yet TBH. I guess I just have to obtain some glass toslinks and expercience the differences myself. Will not pay more than €20 though ("24k gold plated plug ends" on an optical cable :scratch:).

[StanleyB]

MG seems to have dropped opticals, at least I can't find them on his website. Maybe he lost trust in them.
Mark does not make his own optical leads. They are not easy to cut and assemble. The kit to do that costs quite a bit of money.
I don't have such a kit either, which is why I have my leads cut and assembled in just one length.

[wee tee cee]

At the science center in Glasgow they have some great hands on equipment that let you do small experiments and learn a bit about science.....Its aimed at children but often you can hear them saying to dads and grandads " its my turn now!" ,

One of the experiments is explaining about transatlantic telecoms, they have a drum of 1km co-ax and a drum of 1km optical, you manually switch between them and see on a monitor a live video feed of you and your surroundings, the degradation with the coax over a km is quite noticeable the optical is left unaffected. This has always stuck with me. If telecoms and military are using this technology its for good reason.

Always nice to try different things to see if bang for buck you can get better for less.

[icehockeyboy]

At the science center in Glasgow they have some great hands on equipment that let you do small experiments and learn a bit about science.....Its aimed at children but often you can hear them saying to dads and grandads " its my turn now!" ,

One of the experiments is explaining about transatlantic telecoms, they have a drum of 1km co-ax and a drum of 1km optical, you manually switch between them and see on a monitor a live video feed of you and your surroundings, the degradation with the coax over a km is quite noticeable the optical is left unaffected. This has always stuck with me. If telecoms and military are using this technology its for good reason.

Always nice to try different things to see if bang for buck you can get better for less.

I'd guess its purely because of it being better on longer lengths, but 1 metre shouldn't be different?

[wee tee cee]

Craig what are you using with BM MK2 ? Have you tried the optical against the co-ax.......reasonably priced optical s in my system sound really good.

Always used co-ax in the past but will try to get one of the Scottish troops across with a top notch lead to compare.-(in the interests of Science,of course!)

[wee tee cee]

Just plumbed in the newly arrived Beresford optical.......Its the best I have heard so far. Might have to give it a good listen on the system tonight, for purely scientific reasons of course!

[StanleyB]

Just plumbed in the newly arrived Beresford optical......
Blimey, you got them already? You only paid for them this morning...

[wee tee cee]

Aye, thanks Stan.

Got the power leads wired up to a bike battery 3 amp inline fuse on the positive......one to a bantum the other to the BM.......The BM wasnt happy and dropped out after half a song......I aint risking it!!!!! Put the BM back on the recommended camcorder battery that's been faultless.

Bantum runs just fine....so does two driving temple audio mono blocks!!!!!!

Making fine music driving Spendor SP1s.

(PLEASE DON'T START SELLING SHOES AND HANDBAGS!!!.......)

[icehockeyboy]

Craig what are you using with BM MK2 ? Have you tried the optical against the co-ax.......reasonably priced optical s in my system sound really good.

Always used co-ax in the past but will try to get one of the Scottish troops across with a top notch lead to compare.-(in the interests of Science,of course!)

My coax is a Belden Canare thing that was well received a few years back now, I recall everyone that had one gave it a good reception, but I'm now going to stick in the QED Toslink in and see what I think.

[icehockeyboy]

Just listening to my new favourite test track, a young lady called Lucy Ward, she's from Derby not that far away from me, and it's a song called I cannot say I will not speak.
Sounding close at the moment, but I've yet to go back onto the coax......

[icehockeyboy]

Possibly the optical cable j u s t beats the coax, but it's bloody close requiring some eyes closed and concentrating type listening, which many will say if you have to do that it's not that much better.......:scratch:

[wee tee cee]

I have a QED one in the surround amp, might have a play but must admit haven't tried a really good co-ax yet. Thanks for giving it a go!!!!

[icehockeyboy]

More listening with very familiar songs has me thinking the opti cable is actually the better one......detail is incredible....

[wee tee cee]

really didn't want to colour your judgement......But, I came to the same conclusion.
Might be an idea to send £15 Stans way, this optical works in great synergy with the MK2 best sound I have produced from my system or cans so far.

[Fi-Wi]

I ordered a decently priced SonicWave glass toslink to challenge my Mike Homar/WBT plugged coax. I will post my findings here after receiving/testing it, but at this moment I find it hard to imagine that the toslink will perform better.

While I am at it, I may switch the Beresford TC 3618 toslink that now connects my DVD to the BM Mk2 to compare it with the glass one. I use the SBT as my main transport.

[wee tee cee]

I previously ran Mark Grant co-ax, a supra/wbt ag and then the oyaide wbt ag........Will have a go with a good co-ax the next get together we have will be quite interesting to hear the results.

[icehockeyboy]

I've now been using the QED for just under 24 hours and do believe it has the edge over coax, so I've ordered a Stan one, :)

[wee tee cee]

Craig,
Let us know how you get on.....am saying nufink!

[icehockeyboy]

Stan posted it yesterday, so in theory it should arrive today, but as we know RM ain't what it used to be,

[wee tee cee]

Stan,
Has a spaceship delivery system to the Glasgow area, I always get stuff from him inside 24hrs (if he did bags and shoes I would be fooked)!

[icehockeyboy]

Stan posted it yesterday, so in theory it should arrive today, but as we know RM ain't what it used to be,

Half stuffed through my letterbox, so in theory any bugger could have just pulled it back out...damn you lazy postie!!!!

The good news is no one did, and it's now in place and sounding great.
Well, it doesn't actually make a noise, but you know what I mean!

[Ninanina]

This is the cable I use between the Rega Dac and transport and I think it's superb for the money

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002VBAZ60/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They do lots of different lengths too. It's a very thick cable

My friend who owns a Rega Dac too uses a Chord Optichord cable and I don't think it's any better, and neither are glass, they both use plastic fibres

[wee tee cee]

Swapped a glass lead in last night whilst on the cans, sounded different.....better? Dont know, will give it a whirl over the weekend.

[icehockeyboy]

Swapped a glass lead in last night whilst on the cans, sounded different.....better? Dont know, will give it a whirl over the weekend.


What cans were they Tony.......Tenants Extra? :cool:

[bobbasrah]

What cans were they Tony.......Tenants Extra? :cool:

"What shores?"

[icehockeyboy]

"What shores?"

Mines a large one.

Well, I think so.

[bobbasrah]

Is that a boast or guess??? It was part of a fairly naff advertising campaign for McEwan's using a ventriloquist's dummy if memory serves... Probably did more for the Advertising Execs and CAMRA membership than it did for sales...

[wee tee cee]

Cant remember that Bob......must have been pished!

[icehockeyboy]

Is that a boast or guess??? It was part of a fairly naff advertising campaign for McEwan's using a ventriloquist's dummy if memory serves... Probably did more for the Advertising Execs and CAMRA membership than it did for sales...

I recall it being part of the tom foolery of when keith Moon stood in for John Peel on radio 1 a million years ago.
It went... " mines a large one........ask the wife"

[wee tee cee]

will get the wife to measure mine later.....sure it was 1m though- does size really make a difference, with opticals?

[icehockeyboy]

will get the wife to measure mine later.....sure it was 1m though- does size really make a difference, with opticals?

:lol: