Heey... I see these options on so many sound cards but I've never seen anything that uses them.


So my question is...



Who or what uses SPDIF cables?

10/30/2011 3:16:43 AM

Um... any home theater receiver and most high end computer speakers support SPDIF. My computer right now is hooked up to my receiver with an optical cable as well as my Xbox360 downstairs.

10/30/2011 3:57:19 AM

to be quite honest can you tell me if you can tell the different in sound based on the optical cable?


Is it one of those things where once you go there, you can never go back?

10/30/2011 4:04:46 AM

Compared to what? The source material is more important than whether you are using optical or not. It's not like switching to an optical cable is going to suddenly make everything sound better (unless maybe if you are listening to lossless source material and even then I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make).

I use an optical cable for my computer to my receiver because the receiver doesn't have 3.5mm inputs. I could use a 3.5mm to RCA audio cable and get the same results for music, but I also play movies on my TV from my computer and using an optical cable (or coax) lets me send Dolby/DTS 5.1 to the receiver from VLC media player.

The Xbox I have downstairs is one of the originals so it doesn't have HDMI, only component. Using an optical cable to the receiver is the only way to get 5.1 from it.

That's the main benefit of using SPDIF that I know of, getting 5.1 signals from a single cable.

10/30/2011 10:25:26 AM

Optical is a bit cleaner and it allows you to have less clutter since one cable will do at least 5.1 if not 7.1. If your hardware supports it try it out, the cable is not very expensive and give it a listen on a flac audio file you have and see if you can tell the difference.

10/30/2011 10:25:43 AM

Quote :

"My computer right now is hooked up to my receiver with an optical cable "

10/30/2011 11:17:26 AM

Digital coax technically has a higher bandwidth, some newer audio formats won't go over optical.

The highest resolution audio formats now have to be pulled off hdmi (need a rec with audio decoding from hdmi).

10/30/2011 11:34:55 AM

Quote :

" My computer right now is hooked up to my receiver with an optical cable"

I also use an older receiver with no HDMI so I run all my HDMI to a 4x2 matrix switch and a single HDMI to the tv, then a single toslink optical to the receiver

10/30/2011 1:15:50 PM

Quote :

"My computer, patriot box office, and digital cable box right now is hooked up to my receiver with an optical cable"

10/30/2011 8:12:40 PM

Are 'optical' type cables in their hayday, becoming obsolete, or is it the technology of the future?

I know it has been around for a long time already, I'm leaning toward dismissing the tech as having an important, leading edge over anything else.


I take it the best cable right now is the HDMI cable for audio as well as video?

Do we know anything better than HDMI that's soon to be released or is currently released?


[Edited on October 30, 2011 at 8:31 PM. Reason : .]

10/30/2011 8:26:03 PM

Quote :

" he highest resolution audio formats now have to be pulled off hdmi (need a rec with audio decoding from hdmi)"

Wrong. Discrete analog outputs will carry the new master formats. You need to have a player with onboard decoding though. The average consumer is not in the market for that calibre of player usually.

IMO that continues to outperform HDMI as the pinicle for audio cabling. You'll be fine with HDMI though.

10/30/2011 9:28:16 PM

If you're having to ask these questions the answer is most likely going to be stick to HDMI, a good receiver (maybe Onkyo/Yamaha/Sony), and some nice speakers. For a 5.1 or 7.1 set you should be up near $1000 + Receiver. Also consider the source player. A $60 Magnavox BluRay is not going to be quite the experience you have from a Sony costing 2-3x that much. The quality may be fairly comparable, but I'm watching the movie before my friends finishes booting up. It's a painful process.

I would say about 90% of the world (myself included) would be very happy with a ~$800 box set.

Also; in practice using the optical cables or digital through HDMI allow you to delay decoding the audio stream until it (presumably) gets to the best place to do it. So for the little box you show up there instead of having the high noise/low quality box itself decode and push out over cheap analog terminals you're passing the buck to a receiver or other decoder. You're also saving hops over analog cabling - which unless you're ready to drop big cash on cabling is a bad idea.

10/30/2011 11:38:59 PM

also, all of my optical cables are $2-3 6' pieces from china, bought from eforcity or ebay or some such place

they work fine because, as noted above, i'm in the majority that couldn't tell the difference between HDMI and optical audio so there was no need to spend much money

10/31/2011 8:21:00 AM

Isn't it true that to get the best audio out of the PS3 you need to use the Optical out instead of HDMI? I know I've heard it, but haven't done anything with it recently.

10/31/2011 8:25:05 AM