Optical cable question/recommendation?

[Deuterium]

I am continuing to work on upgrading my home listening situation. I have just ordered a Lavry DA10 DAC. I plan on connecting this to my lossless music collection housed on external hard drives by either directly connecting to my laptop or through Airport Express. To do this, I need an optical cable. I am new to using an optical cable. Does an optical cable used in the system make as big a difference as analog cables? If so, can you recommend a source for a reasonable quality optical cable?

Thanks.

 

[devwild]

There are a number of threads on this topic if you do a search on "optical cables" or "glass optical" or the like. I just ordered a Dayton glass optical cable from partsexpress last night. I've ordered from them before and definitely trust them as a source, and the price was good for the length/quality.

 

[Chri5peed]

I was under the impression fiber-optics are fiber-optics? i.e. that any cable would be exactly like the next.

However I am no expert in this, so could well be wrong. I'm probably getting a DAC with optical-in so this is relevant to me as it goes.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Budget solution is Dayton audio glass cable. Supposed to be a good quality too. (partsexpress, amazon)
Or at more than twice the price, OptoCoupler MK II from Van den Hull
http://www.vandenhul.com/cable/optocplr.htm

 

[Edwood]

Great budget choice would be those eBay Glass toslinks, or the MCM toslinks.

-Ed

 

[Chri5peed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT (partsexpress, amazon)

Lol, thats an unfortunate name.

 

[devwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed I was under the impression fiber-optics are fiber-optics? i.e. that any cable would be exactly like the next.

Some searching on the forum will find you lots of information, but glass is generally considered better... when done right, and cared for properly.

 

[Deuterium]

Thanks all for your replies. They have been quite helpful. As Devwild had suggested, I began by searching the archives and did find in a few threads that glass seems to be preferred over plastic. What was less clear to me from my reading, and you have helped clarify, is that there appears to be less of a difference between different glass cables than is commonly seen in the difference between analog cables. I will pick up one of the glass cables mentioned.

Thanks again.

 

[mshan]

Where can you get the Van den Hul Optocoupler mk. 2 (mini to toslink) cable in the US?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshan Where can you get the Van den Hul Optocoupler mk. 2 (mini to toslink) cable in the US?

http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID51342...4-Optical.aspx

And one of the dealers have it for $70,
http://www.fatwyre.com/FATWYRE/FATWY...gital3_06.html

Not sure that price difference worth it over Dayton glass though
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=180-952

 

[bahamaman]

You might want to take a look at the comparisons of TOSlink cables here:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/toslink/toslink.html

 

[Deuterium]

Thanks. That is just what I have been looking for. I will give it a read.

 

[iamdone]

.

 

[zatara]

I tried to order a Optocopuler a few weeks ago and was told it would take 8 to 12 week to get the cable in from Van Den Hul.
So I bought a Wireworld SuperNova 5 + and have been very pleased with it. It connects my APX to a Scott NixonTube Dac+.

 

[Sycraft]

Please note, there are audiophiles that disagree with the folowing. That said:

One cable is as good as the next. There are no problems with interference. It either works, or it doesn't. The only reason for higher quality cables is less signal loss for long runs, and/or better flexability. On short runs, it doesn't matter. You can do 10gig ethernet, which is clocked in the gigahertz range over whatever you like at short range, audio is not a problem.

Unless there is something difficult about your run, buy whatever you like. It's all digital, all optical, it doesn't matter.