SPDIF cable - does it need to be anything special?

[fobos8]

Hi guys

My source is a PC that is linked to a pair of AVI ADM 9.1s. I need to get a longer optical cable.

Can I use anything and do I have to spend loads of money on gold plated cable made by ecologically-minded virgins?

Kind regards, Andrew

 

[DougK]

IMO, no, no big spend needed, just go for a well constructed cable I've got an Atlas cable connection to my PC, my sister has a bog standard Amazon basics cable and they both sound the same.

 

[Gray]

Just don't bother about anything gold on an optical connector. There's no benefit whatsoever.

 

[iMark]

Life can be quite simple sometimes. With an optical cable you only need that the cable transports all the bits from one device to the other. If the cable does that, it works.

 

[abacus]

Any decent standard optical cable will do. (Don't spend more than £10 on one (unless it is really long which means you can go up to £15) no matter what magic particles it uses)

Bill

 

[fobos8]

many thanks guys, nice to see that something in Hifi can be simple!

 

[Al ears]

No, I use an Ixos but only because it was given to me.

 

[RoA]

I use a multi strand glass fibre optical Spdif cable, 300 strands. Not cheap, not expensive but sounds fantastic.

 

[RadDave]

I use a multi strand glass fibre optical Spdif cable, 300 strands. Not cheap, not expensive but sounds fantastic.

They all sound the same mate thats what we are saying

 

[RoA]

They all sound the same mate thats what we are saying

I am glad you are all one voice 🙂

 

[iMark]

I use optical cables that I bought in a sale at John Lewis in the UK years ago. They were 50p each. They simply work.

 

[Oxfordian]

Hang on, you’re saying that the optical cable in stock at my local Currys/PC World for £3.49 (1m length) works just as well as one priced at £49.99 with gold plated connections on sale in the same store?

OMG!!!

 

[nads]

Yep.

 

[Tinman1952]

Hang on, you’re saying that the optical cable in stock at my local Currys/PC World for £3.49 (1m length) works just as well as one priced at £49.99 with gold plated connections on sale in the same store?

OMG!!!

Well only if you believe jitter doesn’t exist…..🙄

 

[Gray]

They all sound the same mate thats what we are saying

As first ever posts go, they don't come better
(Like a record coming straight in the charts at number 1.....back in the days when they needed to sell more than 3 records to enter the chart).

 

[Tinman1952]

Life can be quite simple sometimes. With an optical cable you only need that the cable transports all the bits from one device to the other. If the cable does that, it works.

Well not quite…it’s the timing of the bits which matters……

 

[Tinman1952]

They all sound the same mate thats what we are saying

If only that were true….

 

[Gray]

Well not quite…it’s the timing of the bits which matters……

There are loads of people that would be willing to bet that, in a blind test, you couldn't consistently tell one optical cable from another.
You could make a lot of money proving them wrong

 

[Tinman1952]

There are loads of people that would be willing to bet that, in a blind test, you couldn't consistently tell one optical cable from another.
You could make a lot of money proving them wrong

All I know is I upgraded from a Van den Hul Optocoupler (£60) to a QED Performance Optical (£99) and not only did it sound clearer…it would pass 24/192 whereas the Van den Hul would only do 24/96…so not all cables are equal. Just my experience but you are free to disagree obviously 🙂

 

[Gray]

All I know is I upgraded from a Van den Hul Optocoupler (£60) to a QED Performance Optical (£99) and not only did it sound clearer…it would pass 24/192 whereas the Van den Hul would only do 24/96…so not all cables are equal. Just my experience but you are free to disagree obviously 🙂

Your bitrate example proves that there's a difference.
And true, given the choice, most people would prefer to know that they're listening to 192 rather than 96kHz.
But how many of them could tell by listening?
Again, it would be truly impressive to witness somebody reliably, blindly identifying the higher sample rate.

 

[abacus]

Toslink was never designed for 192 (1st generation was only 48) and currently only rated up to 96, and that assumes the equipment it is connected too can manage it. (Remember the electrical input gets converted to light and then converted back at the end)

There is very little music that is true 192 (Most is just upsampled as studios use mainly 48 or 96 for mastering) so a bit of a niche for most users, (Plus a lot of Hi-res when tested is actually worse than 44.1 (Going above 44.1 is pretty pointless as there is virtually no music that goes above 20K) as unless very young their hearing is not good enough. (Many people consider themselves to have good hearing, but get a big shock when professionally tested, as in most cases it turns out to be not as good as they thought it was)

Bill

 

[RoA]

I must take some pics of my multi strand ... darn ain't it sexy ...

 

[Gray]

(Many people consider themselves to have good hearing, but get a big shock when professionally tested, as in most cases it turns out to be not as good as they thought it was)

Bill

Yes and I'm sure the difference between their L & R ears might also shock some people
(for listening to their speakers with drive units pair-matched to within 1dB).

 

[Gray]

I must take some pics of my multi strand ... darn ain't it sexy ...

Maybe post them on Hi-fi Wigwam where there's more perverts for that sort of thing 😍

 

[Tinman1952]

Toslink was never designed for 192 (1st generation was only 48) and currently only rated up to 96, and that assumes the equipment it is connected too can manage it. (Remember the electrical input gets converted to light and then converted back at the end)

There is very little music that is true 192 (Most is just upsampled as studios use mainly 48 or 96 for mastering) so a bit of a niche for most users, (Plus a lot of Hi-res when tested is actually worse than 44.1 (Going above 44.1 is pretty pointless as there is virtually no music that goes above 20K) as unless very young their hearing is not good enough. (Many people consider themselves to have good hearing, but get a big shock when professionally tested, as in most cases it turns out to be not as good as they thought it was)

Bill

I agree with everything you have said here 🙂 My point was just to show that not all optical cables are the same 👍