Topic: Favorite Optical Cable??

[BCostigan]

Just curious what people are using for optical cables?  Lots of folks running JB3s and there seem to be a TON of different cable maufacturers for optical cables....with a wide range in prices too.  What's a good cost/qulaity cable?

[phishn]

+T just cause you were at 299.  there's some good info in the archives section.  my question is..is glass necessary or will plastic do?

[caymanreview]

i always used a plastic optical cable with my jb3. im not sure if anyone has found a glass cable that is toslink > mini yet....

[John R]

the one in the bean photos is a phoenix gold dtx.510 $15.00  it has a plastic toslink housing.  their next model up is the dtx.910 and is completely metal $20-25.  (i gave the wrong one to a client)

jr

[Nick's Picks]

I use the Hosa toslink cable and the hosa toslink > mini right angle adapter.
sturdy, yet not too ridgid.  Nice and tight locking adapter.  no problems!

[mattb]

I'm using a Klone toslink to toslink. The cable it's self is nice and beefy yet very flexible. I use a toslink to mini adaptor that I just had laying around and it seems to work well. I'd like to get a toslink to mini that has right angle connectors already, but haven't found a good one at a reasonable price yet.

[jlykos]

I have a Cinemaquest (Audioquest home theater division) optical cable and I like it a lot.  It cost about $50.  Nice and sturdy.  I picked up a Toslink > mini optical adaptor at Radioshack for $5 and it works great.

[Tim]

I have a Cinemaquest (Audioquest home theater division) optical cable and I like it a lot.  It cost about $50.  Nice and sturdy.  I picked up a Toslink > mini optical adaptor at Radioshack for $5 and it works great.

I picked up this cable on Jamie's recommendation for use from my Cd playerto my DAC and I like it, I wouldn't hesitate to use it in the field... nice and sturdy!

[Brian Skalinder]

I have and use the Sound Pros SP-TMOC-RA toslink right-angle to mini right-angle.

I also picked up from CablesAmerica (the obsessive side of me insists I have 2 cables in case one fails):

1m Sonicwave Glass Optical ($24.91, compare v. $50 Sound Pros SP-TOC-99HQ)
Velocity toslink to mini right angle adapter ($2.22, compare v. $5 Sound Pros SP-MINI-90)

Right now, I'm mostly using the SP one because I like the integrated right-angles instead of the adapters.  But I like the robustness of the SonicWave cable and the metal connector grips (though, of course, the toslink connector itself is still plastic) and plan to use that combo for a while to figure out which I prefer.  See attached pic for the SonicWave + toslink/mini adapter v. SP right-angle cable.

[JAH]

Nice cable Bri.
 As for Glass Vs Plastic...Galss is better BUT... for our short runs plastic will do the same job.  There was a discussion on this once in the Oade board.
  fwiw
jah

[BCostigan]

Nice cable Bri.
 As for Glass Vs Plastic...Galss is better BUT... for our short runs plastic will do the same job.  There was a discussion on this once in the Oade board.
  fwiw
jah

Before this thread I had never even looked at a true glass cable.....prices are pretty steep!  So far the thread has yeilded what I thought.....no concensus but there are many good options.

[Brian Skalinder]

Before this thread I had never even looked at a true glass cable.....prices are pretty steep!  So far the thread has yeilded what I thought.....no concensus but there are many good options.

Not too steep, really - the SonicWave I have is only $25 same - same as the plastic one with right-angles from SP.  I've seen the same SonicWave cable sold elsewhere for upwards of $75!  Just gotta look around.

[Wes]

I haven't read much into optical cables, but I did study fiber optic cables a bit in school..  They use a phenomenon called TIR (total internal reflection)..  This is when a light beam is reflected off of internal walls of the cable which allows light to be bent around corners, this phenom. is also responsible for the sparkle which is seen in diamonds and other gems..  TIR is strongly dependent on material.  If the material is not pure or if the outer walls of the material is not VERY smooth, degradation of the signal is definately going to occur, jitter is also commonplace in optical cables..   I'd recommend spending as much as your budget allows on your optical cable.

[timP]

do the local places (RS) usually have right angle adapters?

[F.O.Bean]

whats jitter??? i had an electronics class, but i dont think we got that far