[MisterMoJo]

My brother has all his music in his computer and is trying to get it out via optical output after all his old equipment met an unfortunate end. My question is pretty simple: is the optical out going to vary between onboard soundcard and a dedicated soundcard such as a turtlebeach riviera? I just wanted to know if he feeds it to a good dac then some sort of amp, will there be an audible difference? Or since it's one's and zero's will it change at all assuming the rest of the equipment will be the same????

 

[leeperry]

very much, yes.

 

[Kawai_man]

I think there will be difference,I think it would mainly depend on how well the card can reduce jitter from its optical output. I remember I read thread where a guy found the optical out from a sound card sounded better than optical out from his macbook pro.

 

[wudai_e]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif very much, yes.

I disagree, the difference is there but it's minimal.

 

[leeperry]

we had different experiences, that's all...I tried in bitperfect KS to a CS8414 chip, w/ a 6ft glass toslink cable: SHIN KIN - GLASS TOSLINK CABLES

 

[Hybrys]

Any digital out SHOULD match the next digital out. The only thing stopping that would be errors.

Will there be a difference between onboard and a sound card? Yes. Will you, or most people notice it, unless you get something toptoptop of the line? No.

 

[bixby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif we had different experiences, that's all...I tried in bitperfect KS to a CS8414 chip, w/ a 6ft glass toslink cable: SHIN KIN - GLASS TOSLINK CABLES

I got mine from ebay for about $30 a few years ago. Not bad but nowhere near as good as my Van den Hul. Probably a lot better than most plastic toslink cables.

Where can you buy these now a days, I get lot of people asking for cheap glass toslink.

 

[sonci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wudai_e /img/forum/go_quote.gif I disagree, the difference is there but it's minimal.

It all depends on what you consider minimal in the audio world,

The "minimal" difference in Audiophilia is priceless

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bixby /img/forum/go_quote.gif I got mine from ebay for about $30 a few years ago. Not bad but nowhere near as good as my Van den Hul. Probably a lot better than most plastic toslink cables. Where can you buy these now a days, I get lot of people asking for cheap glass toslink.

oh....well, I can't really justify the price of the 2 meters long Van Den anyway

parts-express.com has cheap glass toslink AFAIK...tbh I'm craving to order this one: Parts-Express.com: Dayton GOC-6 Glass Optical Digital Cable 6 ft

but I think that the "65 strands" is bs, as it's obviously been manufactured by the taiwanese OEM manufacturer I linked above...and they only sell 280 strands

I've sent them an email to clear things out, and possibly buy it from them directly...as parts-express.com asks for indecent shipping costs to Europe.

 

[Coupe]

Its a digital signal so there will not be any major difference

 

[bixby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif oh....well, I can't really justify the price of the 2 meters long Van Den anyway parts-express.com has cheap glass toslink AFAIK...tbh I'm craving to order this one: Parts-Express.com: Dayton GOC-6 Glass Optical Digital Cable 6 ft but I think that the "65 strands" is bs, as it's obviously been manufactured by the taiwanese OEM manufacturer I linked above...and they only sell 280 strands I've sent them an email to clear things out, and possibly buy it from them directly...as parts-express.com asks for indecent shipping costs to Europe.

I think that Parts Express may have put the wrong description for # of fibers on that cable. See the description for the Sonic Wave which all other sites list as 65 fibers not 280.

EDIT: Apparently Sonic Wave sells some with 65 strands and some with 280, who knows which is which.
Parts-Express.com:*SonicWave Glass TosLink Cable 2m | toslink optical cable glass optical fiberoptic. digital optical Dolby digital 5.1

I have purchased some wire world stuff from these guys and they are reputable. Here is a slightly longer 280 fiber glass toslink that should sound great. I head the newer version and it is very very good.

Wireworld Super Nova 5+ 3M Glass Toslink Cable - New - eBay (item 400077198134 end time Apr-03-10 03:39:06 PDT)

cheers

 

[leeperry]

well, the rebadger himself also says 65: Dayton Audio - Audio Cables

we'll see what the actual taiwanese manufacturer has to say about this