[Kurt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcolbeck The transmitter on the other hand could induce jitter.

And often 10 times as much as a cable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcolbeck I can push gigabits of data through a cheap cable all day and not get any errors at all !

That's not true. You get alot of errors, alot. You just don't notice because, as Solude already mentioned, there is a 2 way connection with error correction.

 

[TheSloth]

Well, after this discussion, I'm considering getting a glass cable. Problem is, I need a cable that has a mini at one end, and can't find a glass cable in that configuration. Any suggestions?

 

[Solude]

Van Den Hul Optocoupler can be ordered like that. Only catch is its custom order so expect a 4 week wait

 

[pcolbeck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurt And often 10 times as much as a cable. That's not true. You get alot of errors, alot. You just don't notice because, as Solude already mentioned, there is a 2 way connection with error correction.

Thats a common misconception. Its TCP that gives or your application that gives you the error correction that you don't notice. If you are dealing with high end swicthes you can look at the layer two info and see every time they get a send or receive error and there should be virtually none even on a stressed optical link. If I saw climbing errors I would be trying to find out why before the problem got worse. The switchs themsleves never ask for a resend of bad packets they don't care, bad packets are just dumped.

 

[Tritium]

I'm highly suspicious of the jitter argument, as we're talking about mistimings of very tiny fractions of a second supposedly being picked up by a human ear.

If it makes you feel better, I suppose you could by a cheap glass. They tend to at least look prettier than the cheapo plastic ones.

 

[Nospam]

If you're that concerned about it, get the glass Toslink from eBay and a mini adapter. Also, order the Van Den Hul Optocoupler with a mini connector.

When they all arrive, do a comparison and let us know what you find. You should be able to sell the one you don't like without too much trouble.