As far as I know the only difference is jitter (noise in time domain). If you have jitter suppressing DAC like Benchmark DAC1 (upsampling) then it should not matter. Otherwise it might depend on other factors like noise or ground loops (that toslink breaks). I use both glass toslink from my TV and short coax from cd/dvd player into Benchmark DAC1. I cannot tell the difference but both are very short. If you decide to go with coax make sure that you get proper impedance cable (and connectors if you make cable yourself) since reflections appear on impedance boundaries.
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.
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