Toslink VS Coaxial Digital Connection


I'm interested in setting up a music server for my HIFI system and am trying to decide between a Apple TV or a Wadia dock for my Ipod. The Wadia allows you to use a coaxial connection as an output to the DA; whereas Apple TV only allows the use of a Toslink connection. My question is: Has Toslink improved over the years? Or does SPDIF coax still have a significant performance advantage over Toslink? Your answer will help me decide which way to proceed.
bikerduud

Showing 1 response by theo

My opinion, and opinion is all I have to offer from personal experience. I have a SAT receiver that forced me to use Toslink on a 18 foot run and recently I got a new receiver that had coax. I switched back to coax soon after and I feel that I have a better separation of the 5.1 DD. I really beleive that Toslink is probably as good or so close to the quality of coax at a 1 meter distance. But as the length increases, I beleive that it dimishes proportionatly. I think if you use toslink that the quality of the cable must be better than that of the coax. Some may argue that the quality of coax is crucial but I feel the higher quality of the coax is just bonus at best. But a quality toslink is crucial with length. And again all opinion, some more experienced
experts may answer this thread with more factual data.