[markkr]

Quote:

Visit Blue Jeans Cables to check-see what a custom length cable will cost you. My 2 footer was less than $20. They make quality stuff and have great customer service all at a very reasonable price. BJC is well respected here.

Blue Jeans Cable -- Quality Cables at Reasonable Prices

X2
 
I bought 3 different toslink cables from BJC... all are top notch quality and delivery and customer service is the BEST!

 

[MichealAngelo]

 
Quote:

 

 
I think I have an explanation to why it's better. On my review of the cables I mentioned that the light output was a little brighter with the dayton cable than with the ebay glass cable, I forgot to mention that the surface area of the optical input of the dayton cable was considerably larger than of the ebay glass cable,  and before that comparison I had compared the ebay glass cable to the to the ibasso toslink cable, the ibasso cable (which is plastic btw) also sounded better than the ebay glass cable and the ibasso cable also had a brighter light output and If I remember correctly it also had a bigger optical surface area. The ibasso cable and the dayton  both have longer tips so they were also much closer to the LED than the ebay glass cable.
 
That led me to the conclusion that what really matters is how much light the cable can let pass. The surface area of the LED is like 4x bigger than the optical surface of the cable so the cable only covers like 1/4 of the led. So a cable with a bigger optical surface will let more light pass through which will give a better sound, and it  also helps if the cables tip is as close as possible to the LED.
 
I actually found a way to test this. I have this little USB to optical converter Ive been using (link below) because it sounds better than the optical out from my mac. I decided to connect it directly to my dac without an optical cable 

!!! This would allow the full light output from the LED in the onverter to be sent to the reciever. I used a 3ft usb cable to extend it and I rolled a little paper into a small cyinder which I painted black and I put that in between the converter and my dacs optical input, this helped keep it in place and I think it also helps keep some of the light from escaping so it goes more direct to the optical receiver. I also made sure the paper was short enough so that the dongle and the reciever were as close as possible.
 
This made a very noticeable difference in every way there was just much more to the sound especially more detail and it was also a little louder.
 
I then took it a bit further. I removed the case and I cut part of the plastic that extends from the optical out of the converter so this would get me even closer contact between the LED and the receiver, this improved the sound a little further in the same way but there was an especially good improvement in the extension of the notes from the instruments and the singer, like when the note from an instruments decays before going to the next note the you could more clearly hear that or with the singers voice the words extend longer.
 
 
 
I put pics below so you can see the light output from the source and how much actually gets passed through the cable, I also put a pic to show how I connected the converter to my DAC.
 
heres is the link
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/Xitel-MiniDisc-MD-Port-DG2-PC-Link-Optical-Audio-Cable-/220582822530?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335bc2c282
 
 
 
Cheers
-Cris
 

 

 
 

 
Thats awesome, good job!

 

[leeperry]

it's essentially the toslink DIY version of this: http://www.audiophilleo.com/audiophilleo1.aspx

our device is designed to be small and attached directly to your DAC without the use of an SPDIF cable

 very clever! maybe this could help further? hopefully it's a convex lens(easy to check against a wall): http://cgi.ebay.com/Optical-Gender-Toslink-female-Toslink-female-/250565082756
 
my ebay seller has sent me a replacement for the USB dongle, maybe I'll start looking for a tiny glass convex lens now: http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_nkw=glass+convex+lens&_sacat=See-All-Categories