ST receiver and transmitter are pretty expensive, costing up to $25 each for the parts alone. So by the time it gets to consumers, it would have added a couple of hundreds. Coax and AES cost almost nothing. I still use ST in my system and I think it sounds better than coax and AES.
What Ever Happened to ST Optical?
Based on the hype several years ago, I opted for the AT&T "ST" optical connection between my CD transport and processor. I've generally been satisfied with it over the years, but damage to the cable (oops) is forcing me to do a replacement. Is ST optical still a viable choice, or is coax better? Seems to be far fewer suppliers of the ST thes days-- my previous was XLO and they don't list it on their website anymore.