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Copper vs Optical Fibre

Can anyone answer me (especially the equipment manufacturers) why copper connected components can have signal clarity and capacity to 32bit/768kHz, DSD 128, 256 etc, while optical fibre connections (toslink and the like) are restricted to 24bit/96, DSD over DOP, PCM if you are lucky to them up-sampled. In Australia, the National Internet being rolled out has very high up/download speeds on fibre is you can get it, and lousy speeds on copper. Why is optic fibre not used more extensively (between components and speakers if possible) as it does not suffer the maladies of copper connections?
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Showing 3 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,861 posts
 
Well, I have read some measurements suggesting coaxial has better jitter reduction, but not sure how much, or that it is universal. 

This may be less important as DAC's in the last 5-8 years have much better jitter reduction overall than previous generation. 


erik_squires
15,861 posts
 
@amg56 You might want to check out Meridian and see what they are offering lately. They have always been at the bleeding edge of digital, powered speakers. 
erik_squires
15,861 posts
 
History really. In terms of analog transmission of audio, copper is good enough, and plenty easy to modulate. Fiber is relegated to digital only. 

So there's that. Next, if we are talking digital, while the USB standard evolved, the S/PDIF spec got stuck in the mud. Unlike S/PDIF, USB has asynchronous data transmission, allowing the DAC to drive the train, and not the source. Most modern DAC's include galvanic isolation, so the noise stays on one side of the connector. 

Best,

E
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