buying optical cable [Archive] - Overclockers Forums

Korndog

06-09-05, 02:47 AM

well, i'm almost done with my pc sound system, 5channel recieiver, polk studio monitors, and a decent sound card w/ spdif output. i went to frys to get some optical cable, for 8ft, the cheapest i could find was 40 bucks, which was monster cable.. but now on ebay, toslink cable, i could find 13ft for only 13bucks shipped. now is there really a noticible difference between these cables u think?

Ryan T

06-09-05, 03:09 AM

With optical the signal either goes through or it doesnt. It will not effect the sound quality if you go with a realy fancy cable over the run of the mill cable :D. PE has their cables SUPER cheap but S/H may be more? http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&&DID=7&CATID=34&ObjectGroup_ID=151&sm=0&so=0

Pretty much the only benefit to the expensive optical cables are the looks and build quality. In my opinion it isnt worth the price to have a cable with better construction especially since it has no impact on the sound. But they do look cool :).

Ryan

Korndog

06-09-05, 03:13 AM

thought so, damn that monster cable, you saved me like 40 bucks :) thanks man

Ryan T

06-09-05, 03:30 AM

Yeah I hate monster cable. That stuff is SOOOOO overpriced. I dont really use much "premium" cable in my system. I did buy a few 1 meter acoustic research RCA patch cables but thats about it. I really only use optical for my one connection in my system (CD player to receiver). Thats the beauty of optical though. It isnt susceptible to interference like analog cables are :).

Ryan

Korndog

06-09-05, 04:42 AM

Yeah I hate monster cable. That stuff is SOOOOO overpriced. I dont really use much "premium" cable in my system. I did buy a few 1 meter acoustic research RCA patch cables but thats about it. I really only use optical for my one connection in my system (CD player to receiver). Thats the beauty of optical though. It isnt susceptible to interference like analog cables are :).

Ryan

yea, the only reason i'm using it is because of my computer, seems ot give off a lot of interferance (could be the pump w/ 120v powerline?) don't really have a problem around tvs, cars, ect.