optical vs. coaxial, what the difference?

[syphon00]

can anyone tell me?

[powaking]

One is more delicate to work with than the other.

The way I look at it they both transmit digital signal. The Pros and Cons for both, in my opinion, are:

Optical:

Pros
Digital, clean signal. No chance for electrical interferance

Cons
Fragil. Not good to bend more than 45 degrees, make sure the tips of the cables are clean of dust and/or finger prints. Pricey. Source equipment needs to convert signal from electric to light, travel down cable to receiver which converts from light back to electric. thats 2 conversions going on right there, chance for some imperfecations.


Coax
Pros
Again, digital signal. More rugged, nothing to break (compared to optical cable). No signal conversion needs to take place. Usually cheaper than optical.

Cons
Chance of kinking the cable. Electrical interferance.

Thats about all I can think of.

[btbrossard]

A search will turn up a lot of threads on this topic. Here are some:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=217924

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=204112

I use both. I find no difference in sound quality or level. I do know that the optical cable did cost quite a bit more than the coax. Also, the optical cables are fragile and need to be treated with care.

If you really need help deciding, I have a method that may work. Take a quarter. Heads = Coax, Tails = Optical. Filp.

Good luck-

/Benjamin

[palebluedot]

Originally posted by powaking
One is more delicate to work with than the other.

The way I look at it they both transmit digital signal. The Pros and Cons for both, in my opinion, are:

Cons
Fragil. Not good to bend more than 45 degrees,



Stop saying this!! It's completely false. I tied mine in knots just to prove the point. It is not that fragile anymore. Back in the days of glass yes, but not know.

[X]

Please do a search to find the many threads we've had on this subject before.