fiber optic audio - your experiences, advice

[illini]

Ok. So.

I just picked up a 6ft Philips fiber optic audio cable (SWA3522W/17) from a thrift store.

Although I have owned fiber optic compatible audio equipment since 1997, this cable purchase is my first direct contact with said audio cable technology.

What are your experiences with fiber optic audio, and what advice do y'all have to offer me?

 

[Mamrak1]

You don't mention what you are doing with this. What equipment is being used. From what I can see, it looks like run of the mill optical cable. I didn't find anyone selling this.

 

[illini]

I'm not doing anything with the cable yet. Are these cables an improvement over RCAs?

 

[benricci]

I'm not doing anything with the cable yet. Are these cables an improvement over RCAs?

It seems like a plain old TOSLINK cable, from what I can see. It just carries a digital stream, that's all. Probably no better or worse than any other run of the mill optical cable you're likely to find.

There's really no advice to give, per se. You plug it into the digital output on your CD player, and then into the digital input of your receiver or external DAC to do the decoding. My CD player has a great onboard DAC already, so I just send a plain jane analog signal out to my receiver using regular old RCA cables, but your mileage may vary.

What equipment are you using this with?

 

[ferninando]

I am abandoning optical and going digital coax eliminating the 2 conversion steps for optical after reading the sticky on digital cable technology.

 

[Drumolator]

It will only be an improvement depending which DAC is better: the source or the amp/receiver. The DAC in my Yamaha AVR is better than the DAC in my Sony TV, so I use the optical digital out from the TV. Peace and goodwill.

 

[whoaru99]

Be sure to remove the little plastic/vinyl covers often covering the tip of each end*, before you try to plug in the cable.

*probably already gone if the cable is used, but check anyway.

 

[Powertech]

Be careful not to let it kink and don't trap it or bend it sharply. Any of these can damage the internal fibre.
Also, keep the ends capped when not in use to prevent dust or dirt getting onto the optical faces.
These are a good link if you ever get hum loop problems as they break any earth connection between audio units.

 

[Karsdorp]

I am new to this kind of discussion. But I am already very interested to be a part of it. I am afraid my experience connected with fiber optic audio won't be interesting for you but I will continue. One day, I decided to enhance the volume of my speakers. I don't want to write much. I just will tell you that after my precarious manipulations the volume on my speakers went off. My endless frustration finished when I asked my friend to help me. He used to work at a company that specialized in fiber optic network solutions of any kind. I don't remember exactly but it seems he spent less than fifteen minutes to make my pumps sounding again. That's my story.

 

[c.coyle]

Hope I'm not taking this off-topic, but I got sick of the tinny audio from my TCL flat screen ROKU TV, so I installed a soundbar last week. I have it hooked to the TV through "HDMI ARC," which is the recommended method in the user manual. But an optical cable was also included and I have the option of connecting them that way.

I'm not looking for an immersive home theater experience, just decent audio. Everything is fine with the HDMI ARC connection. Should I experiment with the optical hookup, or just leave well enough alone?

 

[Quadman2]

Hope I'm not taking this off-topic, but I got sick of the tinny audio from my TCL flat screen ROKU TV, so I installed a soundbar last week. I have it hooked to the TV through "HDMI ARC," which is the recommended method in the user manual. But an optical cable was also included and I have the option of connecting them that way.

I'm not looking for an immersive home theater experience, just decent audio. Everything is fine with the HDMI ARC connection. Should I experiment with the optical hookup, or just leave well enough alone?

If applied to a high end sound bar, you might notice a difference. Not great though.

No big deal to compare the differences.

I went to do the optic route last night (with A/V receiver) after being suggested to do this with my new Sony H950...and found there was NO optic hook up on this TV . Shows knowledge base of sales person... or lack of.

Q

 

[c.coyle]

If applied to a high end sound bar, you might notice a difference. Not great though.

No big deal to compare the differences.

I went to do the optic route last night (with A/V receiver) after being suggested to do this with my new Sony H950...and found there was NO optic hook up on this TV . Shows knowledge base of sales person... or lack of.

Q

Thanks. It's a cheap TV, so I wasn't about to invest in an expensive soundbar.

After sitting in front of the thing for over a year and constantly whining about the crappy audio, I had a thunderbolt moment: "Of course they sound sh&^ty! They're tiny, firing away from you, and in an enclosure that's maybe 1 1/2 inches deep!" So, these TCL flatscreens are cheap, but you're giving up decent audio.

 

[kirk57]

My experience using TOSLINk vs digital out via RCA cables is that the RCA sounded better. I do have some fancy optical cable (was close to $100 MSRP) that somebody gave me. It didn’t help.

 

[Condorsat]

My experience has been that digital coaxial and even USB (after tweaks) sound better.

One exception ... toslink out of Cambridge Audio DVD 89 to Schiit Modi 2 uber DAC .. that combination just rocks
.. probably a weird system synergy thing.

 

[david1111]

You would compare the digital Optical cable to a digital Coaxial cable, and in my experience, a Coax cable always sounds better.
RCA cables are analogue, so they would be carrying the signal thru a internal CD Dac to an amplifier, whereas a digital cable (Coax or Optical), would be carrying a digital signal from a CDP (or the like), thru a Separate Dac; then to an amplifier.

 

[rajoo]

Wonder why the so called multimedia computers all have optical out instead of coax and most inexpensive toslink to coax will only do 24/96 that I know of.

 

[david1111]

Wonder why the so called multimedia computers all have optical out instead of coax and most inexpensive toslink to coax will only do 24/96 that I know of.

Yeah, I don't know. Although, I have read some posts where the person has preferred an optical connection.

 

[BobbyBluz]

Optical is great for elimination of grounding issues. For digital production I use AES/EBU with XLR connections.

 

[Mrv8q]

Hope I'm not taking this off-topic, but I got sick of the tinny audio from my TCL flat screen ROKU TV, so I installed a soundbar last week. I have it hooked to the TV through "HDMI ARC," which is the recommended method in the user manual. But an optical cable was also included and I have the option of connecting them that way.

I'm not looking for an immersive home theater experience, just decent audio. Everything is fine with the HDMI ARC connection. Should I experiment with the optical hookup, or just leave well enough alone?

Just hooked up a new Yamaha soundbar this weekend. Using the HDMI ARC input, one is able to use the TV remote to control the volume level. The TV remote will probably also be able to turn on both devices.

Using the optical input, you would most likely have to use the soundbar remote to control the volume level.

Whether the HDMI/Arc channel or the optical input sounds better...

 

[Don Lubin]

If you don't have any ground loop or EMI issues, I would go with the coax for a digital connection.

I designed the first commercial digital fiber optic link using that 1mm plastic fiber back in the 70s. When Toslink was introduced, we quickly became a major supplier for the transmitters and receivers. As part of that, I spent a fair amount of time dealing with the audio equipment manufacturers in Japan. I remember the R&D manager for Onkyo's audio products telling me that they had done studies confirming that some people could audibly detect 10ns of jitter in the link. Adding an optical transmitter and receiver to the signal path does not help matters. Getting the jitter reduced on Toslink was a priority for them and others.

The reason I tell the story is that there is a good chance you will end up with more jitter in the optical link, so unless there is a need for optical (ground loop, EMI), you are likely better off with the coax.

Back when Toslink was big, the unit volume on transmitters (mostly CD players) was 10 times the size of fiber optic receivers (mostly in receivers, amps) indicating that 90% of Toslink transmitters were never connected to anything. Not surprising as only high end receivers and amps had digital inputs then but just about any cheap CD player had a Toslink output. I'm not sure what the mix is today with even relatively inexpensive home theater units having a couple of optical inputs, but with digital physical media players on the decline.