Optical Toslink Or Digital Coax - Which Is Best?

[Ninanina]

I have my Rega Dac connected to the CD player via a cheapish Optical Toslink cable.... one of these in fact: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-TOSLINK-F001-Goldspec-Resolution/dp/B002VBAZ60/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1390349858&sr=8-10&keywords=duronic+toslink

Can anyone tell me if I could improve this by either a more expensive Toslink cable or by using the Digital Coax Input instead?

I was lead to believe that pretty much any Toslink cable (apart from the very thin ones) were much of a muchness

[Clive197]

Your right, optical cables sound quality is much the same, but the build quality is generally what you are paying for.

Digital analogue are generally considered to be the better choice as there is no processing at each end as there is with optical. Differences between coax cables built to the correct 75Ohm spec. tend to show small and subtle differences but I have found very little to choose between a £70 or £450 cable, having used Chord Prodac, Chord Signature and Chord Indigo finally settling on The Missing Links Binary Star for my digital cables. I do use a Chord Optichord from my Sky box because the bloody thing does not have a Coax out!

Clive

[Markiii]

not sure there is any such thing as a definitive answer on this

proponents of Toslink will argue that its immune to interference from other cables, which is True

proponents of coax will argue that Toslink degrades quality as it converts from electrical to optical and back again, which dependant on implementation can also be true

personally I tend to favour coax, but I can't say its based on a particular reason.

Best bet is get a good quality cable of both types and trust your ears

[icehockeyboy]

I've got, and tried both.....very little difference, certainly not enough to worry about.

[clarkey555]

I have my Rega Dac connected to the CD player via a cheapish Optical Toslink cable.... one of these in fact: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-TOSLINK-F001-Goldspec-Resolution/dp/B002VBAZ60/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1390349858&sr=8-10&keywords=duronic+toslink

Can anyone tell me if I could improve this by either a more expensive Toslink cable or by using the Digital Coax Input instead?

I was lead to believe that pretty much any Toslink cable (apart from the very thin ones) were much of a muchness

to be honest I personally don't think there is much between the two soundwise however the deal breaker for me is coaxial is a much more secure fit and its not only me that thinks this but quite a few friends agree also pete.

[wee tee cee]

I use a Mark Grant glass optical between dac and v-link. It is the best I have heard in my set up. In terms of co-ax the MG oyaide and supra co-ax both terminated with wbt 110ag were both very good. The TQ co-ax is the best I have heard but sadly out of my budget.

[Stresss42]

I use a Mark Grant glass optical between dac and v-link. It is the best I have heard in my set up. In terms of co-ax the MG oyaide and supra co-ax both terminated with wbt 110ag were both very good. The TQ co-ax is the best I have heard but sadly out of my budget.

Hi Tony, can't find glass Optical cables on Marks website ? I know loads of people here wanna buy them - seen loads of threads !! Damn.

[RichB]

I have used both into my rega DAC from a variety of sources, SBT, vlink II, CDP and tivo box.

I prefer optical cables, it just seems smoother and less tiring. Perhaps this is because im just used to them but the coax just seems a bit more coarse. I also had an issue with a laptop power supply which was injecting a lot of very audible noise and creating a ground loop. A simple and cheap optical cable broke the electrical loop so for the isolation alone they work best for me.

[Oldpinkman]

When I were a little a bloke called Westlake built a dac called dacapo in his bedroom with either available. We only ever used coax. Later, lured by a spectrum analyser, exotic trips to the orient and promises of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice he went to work for Julian richer and designed the Cambridge digital. Much later on fleabay I picked up the last of those designs cd6. It only has coax! Draw your own conclusion. In a hurry I hooked up with 50p BNC converters and the yellow lead off an old very cheap (free) video lead. Later, interested in a thread I bought a correct 75ohm van dame lead which I now use. They sound identical.

[icehockeyboy]

Stan does a nice opti cable.

[Audioman]

For 16/44.1 (red book) between transport and DAC I have Mark Grant Coax and a less than £20 Amazon Optical. Differences are slight with a preference for the optical's cleaner sound. For hi-res matters may be different.

[Ninanina]

Well I've got a TQ Black Digi Coax on it's way... defo didn't pay the crazy rrp of £390 though....

I'll try that and see how I get on. I'm not too keen on the optical really as it never seems that secure in it's fitting to me....

[Ninanina]

I use a Mark Grant glass optical between dac and v-link. It is the best I have heard in my set up. In terms of co-ax the MG oyaide and supra co-ax both terminated with wbt 110ag were both very good. The TQ co-ax is the best I have heard but sadly out of my budget.

Tony...
Did the TQ coax work as well as your MG optical ? I'm pretty sure Mark doesn't do them anymore though...

[AlexM]

Hi,

In my system I have tried coax and optical connections between the SBT and my CA Azur 851c. I was suprised by the tonal differences between the two, with optical sounding smoother and less detailed than coax , which sounded brighter, more transparent with better stereo imaging. Both were better than. Usb async, which was frankly disappointing.

Regards,
Alex

[synsei]

I use a Rega DAC and slightly prefer digi-coax to optical on Red Book material and much prefer it to optical when listening to HD files, it sounds fuller and more 'grown up' to me. The Rega's USB input sounds harsh and brittle to my ears in comparison to both of the above but then you weren't asking about that ;)

[wee tee cee]

One of the Scottish get togethers we tried quite a few co-ax leads each sounded different, the TQ was the best of the lot we tried.
Regards optical I wasn't really a big fan until I got my BM2, Stan spent a bit extra on the optical implementation and it has paid dividends. The MG glass lead has been in a drawer for a couple of years, I have an Atlas/Cambridge audio/Beresford and a few cheapo ones Belkin and others in various length.There wasn't much in it but the glass one shaded the rest. Stan's optical resides in my AV set up.
Reckon it will depend on the DAC implementation as the optical on my MF M1 was not very pleasant at all.

[Ammonite Audio]

I have always favoured coaxial digital connections over optical - sometimes the differences are so gross that any cloth-eared fool would hear the difference, but often (and on brief acquaintance) there seems little to choose between them. But, over longer periods of listening, there is something that tends to make the coaxial connection more natural sounding, and musically involving.

I have found big differences between optical cables. A relatively cheap QED grey plastic thing is OK; a glass cable bought from a well-known cable supplier sounded so bad it was returned immediately; a Lifatec Silflex (http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html) glass optical cable bought from the States is the best yet, being pretty good by any standard (also fantastically flexible with end connectors that fit firmly and securely). I use the Lifatec with the Bushmaster for headphone listening.

[Ninanina]

Well I've put the TQ Black Digi Coax into the system... It is quite a different presentation than the Optical.... My initial impressions are that it seems much smoother than the optical and more revealing at the same time which is odd because I normally find that if a cable is brighter it seems to be more revealing but it seems the complete opposite with this TQ cable.... smooth AND revealing ....odd

Obviously I will have to live with it in the system for a few days/weeks to really get a handle on it but certainly first impressions are pretty good..... I'll keep you posted as it beds in....

Thanks all.... :)

[wee tee cee]

glad you weren't disappointed, your description matches the consensus amongst the Scottish troops on the day.