The Toslink-S/PDIF Tussle
Which is Best Toslink or S/PDIF?
26/01/12 15:38
My very latest delving has been into Fibre optic cables - i.e. Toslinks
It started by me placing an order for a DH Lab's "Deluxe Toslink Optical Cable"
Wondering whether I'd done the right thing - I went searching...
What about S/PDIF?
Now, this was not an exhaustive search by any means, but my two favourite companies have laid down some pretty good benchmarks
If you are looking - be sure that the cable you select has a performance level somewhere near my favourites above!
There is no real "performance advantage" between the two cable types when it comes to home hi-fi - both are blindingly fast these days and capable of handling hi-res audio.
Good Huntin'
It started by me placing an order for a DH Lab's "Deluxe Toslink Optical Cable"
Wondering whether I'd done the right thing - I went searching...
- Toslink has the advantage of not suffering from RF interference - so it is the better solution from that perspective
- I started with my favourite cable maker Van Den Hul (aka VDH)
- their OPTOCOUPLER II is a killer cable that "Guarantees" 250Mbps
- I looked back at the DH Labs cable which states 150Mbps - Hmmm - not bad at all since it is less than half the price!
- I then went looking at other manufacturers - e.g. my existing Chord toslink is 50Mbps
- most of them didn't even publish their numbers
What about S/PDIF?
- A different kettle of fish altogether...
- The problem of RF pollution comes back into the equation, so I looked for cables with adequate shielding
- Once again I went to VDH and found their Digicoupler - a triple screened cable with a performance of 3 Ghz
- Once again - right there was DH Labs with their Silver Sonic D-75 and D110 with a performance of "beyond 2 Ghz"
- and then there was the rest - not telling me the information I needed to know
Now, this was not an exhaustive search by any means, but my two favourite companies have laid down some pretty good benchmarks
If you are looking - be sure that the cable you select has a performance level somewhere near my favourites above!
There is no real "performance advantage" between the two cable types when it comes to home hi-fi - both are blindingly fast these days and capable of handling hi-res audio.
Good Huntin'