Which is better, audio from coaxial cable or fiber optic cable?

Question

The coaxial I'm talking about is the one with just audio.

Answer 1

There is no audible difference. In either case, the digital signal is decoded by the D-to-A converters in your preamp or receiver. Those same DACs decode the signal from both the optical and coaxial cables, so you won't hear a difference.

There are considerations other than sound quality, however. Digital coax can radiate high-frequency noise that can be picked up by other components of your home theater. Optical cables don't have that issue, but they have the possible problems of signal degradation over long lengths and signal loss due to kinks in the cable.

So use whichever cable is more convenient and switch only if you observe problems.

Answer 2

I agree with Pan uncompressed discrete analog outs are going to be processed the least, these also are the most cables and expensive to implement. Each time you make a digital connection the signal must be decoded and re encoded. The discrete outs bypass the receiver and its decoding in favor of the one in a source device that if they have discrete outs have a better DAC than most receivers sans the Denon 5806.

Next would be digital coax since it is usually in a high quality shielded cable but should be avoided in runs over 2 meters. Coax has no processor lag since the signal is voltage based and travels near the speed of light with no EM to optical processor lag.

Optical is the lowest of these since the timing can be a issue. Errors must be sequenced into the DAC algorithm. Bass waves can distort all but the best optical cables.

Answer 3

Audio from a Source connection from best to worst.

1) discrete analog multi-channel uncompressed.
2) Digital coax runs of 2 meter or less.
3) Optical runs of more than 2 meters.

Using the uncompressed analog outs you don't have to have support for both formats in the source and receiver, just the source. No post processing or compression.

Always use high quality interconnects in your system.

Answer 4

the only advantage optical has over digital coax is its screening abilities -outside sources such as electrity etc do not affect it-performance wise provided you have a good receiver (denon/yamaha/marantz etc) then there is no real difference in sound quality in runs of 2 metres or less.

Answer 5

You mean ANALOG coax? It depends on the processor: if you have a better processor in your DVD, then the coax sound better. If the processor is better in the receiver - then fiber optic (or coax digital) will be a better choice.

The latter is usually the case...

Answer 6

imo :Digital Coaxial is the best with fiber optic right behind it.

Answer 7

it is suppose to be the optical cable, but I really had trobble telling the differnce, they both work much better the the RCA cables , it is digatial

Answer 8

optical definitely