coxial vs optical

[ecko84]

what is the difference between digital coxial and optical out? i have a optical out on my current dvd player and optical and coxial on my reciever and optical works awesome. i am gettin a new dvd player with digital coxial but no optical. will i still get dolby digital with coxial?

[d4n13l]

They are just different types of connections for digital in/out, Coaxial being the superior. Unless you have £££££££ Hi-FI, optical does just as well.
You will still get dolby digital with coaxial, so dont worry. You will be using the better connection at the end of the day.

[tuan711]

How is "Coaxial being the superior" compared to optical?
I don't have the technical background on this stuffs, but I have tested the noise differences between these two types of connections and found that the optical connection has less noise.

To test for noise, my low-tech technique.
1) Connect both Coaxial and Optical cables from your DVD to Receiver.
2) Turn on your DVD/Reciever
3) Do not play anything as you will be cranking up your Receiver really high so you can hear the noise.
4) Set your receiver to coaxial input first
5) Crank up the volume untill you start to hear the hissing noise. Notice this noise level.
6) Without changing the volume on your Receiver, change the input from Coaxial to Optical (should be able to select input type on your Receiver). In my case, I could hear less noise when I switched to optical. By how much? I can't really say since this is really not a technical test, but the fact that I could notice the noise drop tell me that at least at the noise performance level - Optical is better than Coaxial. And isn't how clean the sound you hear is a measure of how good your system/cable is?

If you have a good explaination to why Coaxial is better than Optical, I like to hear it.

Regards,

[ecko84]

so i will still get dolby d with coaxial? nice. what kind of cable do i need? can i just use a regular a/v type cable or do i have to buy a special one?

[ecko84]

o yeah, the reason i asked this is because my receiver has both optical and coaxial (im using optical with my current piece o shit dvd player). and i want a new one to play vcd and mp3. the two i had in mind are the apex ad-3210 (had the optical, but is more expensive). and the apex ad-1500 (has only coacial). so i think i will be getting the cheaper 1500 (i hear great things about it! =P ) thanks for you help

[SupaCoopa]

You get all existant types of soundtrack (normal stereo, Dolby ProLogic, Dolby Digital, DTS, 48Khz or 24bit digital streams) with both optical and coaxial connections provided your source can deliver them and your receiver can decode them.

Coaxial connection is regarded as superior to optical by all magazines/sites specialising in Hi-Fi/Home Theater.
Personally I use optical connections between DVD-receiver, PC-receiver and PC-MiniDisc and I'm very pleased. All of the machines also have coaxial connections, but coaxial cables are WAY more expensive so I stick with optical.

Tuan711, I'm surprised to hear that you get noise with digital connections. There is a thing called "Digital Silence" which is mandatory to optical/coaxial connections. You shouldn't be able to hear the slightest whisper even with the volume cranked at maximum.


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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SupaCoopa on 2001-10-02 01:10:48 ]</font>

[SatStorm]

Coaxial cables are expensive?
Use typical RCA ones...
You loose 0.005 of the final sound with mainstream sound amplifiers...
I personaly do it, and I have no quality loss with my sony 860...
Optical is better with less than 1 meter cables. So, most of the cases, is imposible to use them...

[d4n13l]

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On 2001-10-01 21:14:14, ecko84 wrote:
so i will still get dolby d with coaxial? nice. what kind of cable do i need? can i just use a regular a/v type cable or do i have to buy a special one?
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You have ( you dont HAVE to, but they are better ) to buy a digital interconnect cable. Go into a Hi-Fi store and they will sort you out. The cheapest Ive seen a coaxial cable is £20, but they probably do them cheaper than that.

Tuan711, I dont really have any other proof. Its just that in every single Hi-Fi magazine that I have ever read, it has said that coaxial is superior. Im talking about real hi-fi here, not standard stuff. Thousands of pounds worth, with Coaxial cables costing from £40 to £100's. Also, you rarely even find an optical connection on top end hi-fi; must be a reason why coaxial is actually better, but I dont know why precisly. With standard hi-fi though, there really is no difference, as Ive said. You wont even be able to hear the difference between the two types at that price, so it makes no odds.
Did you use a proper digital coaxial cable (75ohm(?)) or just a standard RCA cable?