Optical Toslink cable quality? Is there a difference?
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One word JITTER If the cable works at the bandwidth required (no dumbing down or reduction of the digital data conveyed in the signal and no dropouts) then all the digital reaches the destination and digital data is perfectly preserved. However, audio signals have timing information conveyed with them - an analog style clock signal is transmitted. It is the shape of this analog signal that can be affected by various cables and the digital data being sent. Provided your downstream DAC device can run on its own clock asnchronously decoupled from this analog digital clock signal then you have nothing to worry about with different cables. Unfortunately many (if not most) devices run PLL or phase locked loops which are not perfectly decoupled and almost certainly may benefit from certain cables vs others or in certain lengths. The problem arises because one clock chases the other and while the secondary clock can be smoother or less jittery it can actually be worse because the jitter might even be less random. Benchmark have completely solved this problem by doing all of the clock locking in the digital domain at 250 GHz (4 picosecond control of timing and an impossibly high speed for analog electronics to function accurately but easy enough in the digital domain). Such extremely small timing adjustments allow the rate of change in clock timing to be conducted very gently at less than 1Hz (a 1 Hz signal being inaudible and rate of change being akin to acceleration in your car. Just imagine a driver following another car and trying to maintain the same distance - a driver can choose to accelerate and decelerate rapidly in an easily perceptible jerking motion, alternatively a more skilled driver can make very gentle adjustments that passengers do not feel) |
When it comes to Toslink there are many (including me) who use glass instead of plastic for a more accurate and realistic sound. I’ve used Lifatec cables for years and remain very happy with their products. Their cables are reasonably priced for the quality. You can check them out here: http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html |
HDMI and Toslink both the cables are used for transferring digital audio from one device to another. The main difference is HDMI cable is transferred higher-resolution audio and videos while Toslink cables are used for audio signals. HDMI replaces the Toslink. But, Toslink is also a good option because it carries 7.1 channels of very high-resolution audio. |
Yes the Toslink cable affects the sound. I bought a Bluetooth streamer and connected it to my MSB link DAC 2 using the cheap little Toslink cable. It sounded terrible. I can't even describe how bad the music sounded. Bought an Audioquesr Optilink 3 and WOW. HUGE improvement. So streaming Tidal now sounds as good as CDs on my SONY SCD-XA5400es. Again. From unlistenable to fantastic, the cable matters. |
There is a difference in optical toslinks cables if your downstream system is good enough to reveal it. 15 years ago I went on a toslink merry go round and settled on the Lifatec cables posted above. They sounded best. This was when using them between a CD transport and DAC. That setup is long gone, and I recently needed one between TV and DAC. I got another Lifatec. OK. Then I got the QED Reference Optical https://www.qed.co.uk/qed-reference-optical-quartz-digital-audio-cable.html This was a noticable upgrade over the Lifatec. It even surprised me how much better it was, considering it has less strands of glass than the Lifatec, and it's on TV/Xbox duties only There is a few other botique optical cables out there. DHL Labs and Wireworld to name some I have not tried.
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Another rationalization for not spending more while the desire to get something better is eating away from the inside because they don't like the sound that they're getting. The Fox and the Sour Grapes. That kind of thinking will never come to anything good. All the best, |
i bought the lifatec 8 years ago after i wrote this post - i can't say i really noticed a difference when i put it in from the cheap Kabeldirekt Optical. it sounds good, but i also have a short cheap coax cable on the same Node 2i -> DAC. The Coax sounds better. better resolution was found by going from wifi to ethernet (powerline - gasp!) and putting a iFi audio LAN iSilencer on the back of the Node - huge improvement on solidity and reduction of jitter. Cheers! |
Just like 44.1/16 bit can literally blow you away when done right, 96/24 bit can do it one better, when done right. Having said that, a great Toslink cable in a very revealing system may be all you need, leaving you to wonder if all the talk about higher resolution formats are just a numbers war, looking for your wallet. Everyone's milage will vary depending on your means of transportation. All the best, |
