Wanted - interesting optical cables

[lordmortlock]

I’ve always been essentially cable agnostic but quite fancy the idea of trying a couple of optical cables back to back to see if I can hear any difference.

I use one of Stans currently betwixt sonos and Dac. I’d like to try a lifatec glass, a fisual Hollywood, one of those XO jobs that were cable du jour a couple of years back and a mark grant model if anyone has any they’d sell or even loan for the experiment if they don’t want to part with them long term. I’d obviously cover postage etc.

What do you have tucked away in the drawer my friends? :-)

[struth]

Glass ones are best. Ive a fisual glass one and its better than the plastic ones imo,; dont really think its the cable so much as the cut at end and the quality of the shiny bit at end that counts

[dave2010]

Glass ones are best. Ive a fisual glass one and its better than the plastic ones imo,; dont really think its the cable so much as the cut at end and the quality of the shiny bit at end that countsSomething like this one Grant? - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Pearl-Digital-Optical-Cable/dp/B000WTII9Y Not an unreasonable price.

If you look at the comparison cables at the bottom of the page they are all reasonably priced. I'm sure someone here will suggest something costing five or ten times as much. My feeling is that most cables like the ones shown here are good enough.

I just this evening reconnected my CD player to an amp with an optical cable, having failed to get good results from my Oppo SACD with either a coax or an optical cable. I've been somewhat deprived of acceptable quality audio for months (apart from live concerts) - and this is bliss compared with what I've been listening to recently. Tomorrow or later next week I'll try amp and speaker swaps, and I might even get surround sound working for the SACD and DVD-A recordings.

Having a last blast of Christmas music - can actually hear the words, and also the ambience in the recordings - though some of the tracks on the CDs I have are badly edited. What unmusical people clip off the reverb at the end of each piece, rather than let it die away naturally, or fade to near silence? Ugh!

[struth]

Something like this one Grant? - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Pearl-Digital-Optical-Cable/dp/B000WTII9Y Not an unreasonable price.

If you look at the comparison cables at the bottom of the page they are all reasonably priced. I'm sure someone here will suggest something costing five or ten times as much. My feeling is that most cables like the ones shown here are good enough.

I just this evening reconnected my CD player to an amp with an optical cable, having failed to get good results from my Oppo SACD with either a coax or an optical cable. I've been somewhat deprived of acceptable quality audio for months (apart from live concerts) - and this is bliss compared with what I've been listening to recently. Tomorrow or later next week I'll try amp and speaker swaps, and I might even get surround sound working for the SACD and DVD-A recordings.

Having a last blast of Christmas music - can actually hear the words, and also the ambience in the recordings - though some of the tracks on the CDs I have are badly edited. What unmusical people clip off the reverb at the end of each piece, rather than let it die away naturally, or fade to near silence? Ugh!Yup same I think. Still I found best off if oppo was to extract audio from hdmi. Sounded very good. I am awaiting a new extractor as mine packed up

[jandl100]

I'm still a fan of those white XO TOSLINK cables.
Best sounding TOSLINK I have heard including some well regarded glass ones.

Can lend you one later in the week if you like, Jake.

Cheap enough to buy, though! - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XO-Ultra-Digital-Optical-Audio-Cable-White-SPDIF-Optical-TOSLINK-Gold-Plug-DTS/371318193557?var=640435605144

[struth]

Got one of those too actually. I it's currently in use too. Lol

[lordmortlock]

I'm still a fan of those white XO TOSLINK cables.
Best sounding TOSLINK I have heard including some well regarded glass ones.

Can lend you one later in the week if you like, Jake.

Cheap enough to buy, though! - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XO-Ultra-Digital-Optical-Audio-Cable-White-SPDIF-Optical-TOSLINK-Gold-Plug-DTS/371318193557?var=640435605144

Morning Jerry, hows things?

Great, thanks for that, hadn’t realised they were that cheap new, just bought one :cool:

[Pieoftheday]

I have a fisual Hollywood optical, I bought just before xmas, its 50cm long ,too short for my needs, you can have it if you like:)

[lordmortlock]

That’s very kind James, thank you! I’ll drop you a pm

[Pieoftheday]

That’s very kind James, thank you! I’ll drop you a pm

No problem, :)

[mikmas]

Something like this one Grant? - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Pearl-Digital-Optical-Cable/dp/B000WTII9Y Not an unreasonable price.

I've used all three of the Fisual models and found them fine to use but definitely prefer the Pearl but only because the actual connection seems more robust than the others. Incidentally, Fisual may infer that the core of the (slightly) more expensive ones is glass ... but I have found nothing that confirms that at all. My betting is that it is simply high quality plastic.

The Hollywood has a good reputation but it seems only the short one is available now. I found it too inflexible (similar problem with the XO) and as a result it kept popping out the back of one of the devices I use. No such problem with Pearl (or the cheapo one from them either)

As to a difference in SQ - to me the effect was more psychological than real and I noticed little actual benefit over a thin 3m long freebie .... but YMMV ;)

[DSJR]

Not sure I can hear a difference between optical cables to be honest, as long as the cable isn't kinked or the ends dirty.

In longer than 1m lengths, I suppose the attenuation of the light source may become an issue in some optical receivers. I used to have a fairly posh one with fancy element well strengthened against breakage, but honestly, I'm darned if I could really tell the difference. More expensive ones do look posher though and inspire more confidence in their use.

It's my take that for most domestic duties, a nice looking one from CPC is 'probably' all you'd need and doesn't give any drop-outs that I can hear (push the boat out, get one with woven outer-jacket :D) - differences in the music mixing and production are clearly audible to me as well as subtle timbre changes in the playing (HiFi descriptions, but all together increases musical enjoyment for me), so once easily able to do this, I forget the cables in use to be honest and just enjoy the music I'm playing. I'm fortunate though, not to have a DAC that bleaches out and strips all the emotion from the music played through it.