preferred connection method toslink opt. or digital coax

ferninando

Lunatic Member
Please give opinions of which method you like best.
I have read that coax beats opt. by a small amount.
What say you?
Thanks.
 
I've also read that coax is the preferred method. Knowing that makes me a bit biased and has some part in my thinking the co-ax is better when I've compared the 2. What did surprise me is I noticed less differences between those 2 totally different hook ups than I have swapping out different rca interconnects
 
I've read many like the AES/EBU for digital and it's becoming more common in both digital interfaces and external DACs, its the studio standard for digital. low noise due to common mode rejection.

I use digital coax and it sounds great, optical sounded thin to me. I use a gustard U12 USB interface that has it's own low noise PSU and extremely accurate clocks. It's based on the XMOS chipset. I use a canare "True 75ohm" coax, I've been told BNC is the only true 75 ohm interface but my gear doesn't take BNC and I can't believe that adding BNC to RCA will do anything but degrade the signal..

worth mentioning is i2s, it's digital audios true signal and removes the s/pdif transmit -> s/pdif recieve from the equation.

i2s word clock is separate from the digital signal so in theory it should have less jitter. the only dacs/digital interfaces I've seen that support i2s are niche RPI based devices and audio gd/gustard. i2s unofficial format is HDMI but anything can be used in theory as its just a series of pinouts. Expect i2s to gain popularity as companies scrape all the fidelity they can from digital audio.

i2s is pretty cool in DIY applications and is very affordable- more info here https://volumio.org/raspberry-pi-i2s-dac-sounds-so-good/

IMO the chain of digital components is more important than the connection type though. Having USB decoupled from the motherboard bus, having high quality power supplies for your interfaces and a high grade clock are vital.

When I bought an external digital interface (gustard u12) it dropped noise floor and added to fidelity, subtle improvement
 
There are different qualities of Optical cabling, some is all plastic while some are actually glass. The polishing of the ends is also a factor. I used to work for a Machine Shop where we designed and built some of the very first fiber optic end polishing machines for AMP, and they were glass.
 
I our living room system, we have a Sony Blu-ray player connected to our Sony TV via HDMI. The TV is connected to our Yamaha AVR via an digital optical cable. The same Blu-ray player is also connected directly to the Yamaha AVR via a coaxial digital cable. When I play a CD, I can hear it either way, and they sound the same to me. Peace and goodwill.
 
Please give opinions of which method you like best.
I have read that coax beats opt. by a small amount.
What say you?
Thanks.

When done right, optical is better - it isolates DAC from digital source and thus reduces noise. Though many Toslink implementations are technically flawed and there electrical connection is better.
 
I've been opticle now want to at least try coax to see if there is a diff..
Probably wont be able to hear the diff.
Thanks all for your info.
 
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