Fiber Optic Sound Card

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/345/what_difference_fiber' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/345/what_difference_fiber</a><br /><br /></div><i>"About two weeks ago I ordered the Chaintech 7.1 Soundcard for the ridiculous low price of about $19 at BananaPC (it is out of stock now) to upgrade the stock soundcard in my 2002 Media Center PC. Ever since I've connected my HDTV TiVo to my Onkyo HT-R510 I've been enourmously impressed by the improvement in the sound quality going through a fiber optic cable vs. the old analog connection. So I figured buying a new soundcard for my MCE machine for a mere $19 that supported fiber optic out was a no brainer. All I can say is wow -- my mp3s have never sounded this good. The improvement in sound quality going through this card and the fiber optic connection to my Onkyo is amazing."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/chaintech_av-710_sound_card.jpg" /><br /><br />I have had optical outputs on my sound card for a long time and my iRiver supports it too, but I never bothered using it on a regular basis, only briefly for a test. Do any of you use optical I/O for audio on a daily basis? Have you found the sound to be better than that over copper?

[that_kid]

I use an optical card everyday but it's mainly for video and music editing. In my DAW I have two 24 channel cards which interface with my recorder and mic pre-amps. While I have a few coxial based things here, most of the stuff I use on the DAW side is all optical, many of the pieces I have either have analog and optical but not much analog and coaxial. As far the sound goes as long as the card has a decent clock and converters it should sound good. I haven't a/b coxial vs optical but coming from the same source they should both sound the same.

[RenesisX]

Coaxial vs. Optical (TOSLink):

There is no difference in sound quality. They are both digital, the signal will be the same from both, and although the optical goes through one extra set of conversion from light it shouldn't make any difference to the actual signal.

I believe the bandwidth on optical is limited, so you can't transfer some of the higher bit-rate audio signals, but apart from that there isn't much technical difference.

The main differences are practical. You can have longer runs of coax easier. The connector on coax isn't as fiddly and fits in any way round, unlike optical. Optical cables are also more fragile.

Anyone into home theatre will almost certainly use coax.

Just my 2 € cents.

[Jason Dunn]

I use optical when possible, but I've never noticed a difference in the sound quality - but I've also never done any A/B listening tests either.

[that_kid]

Anyone into home theatre will almost certainly use coax.

Actually I go for optical more than coaxial and others in home theater that I know do the same. It's mainly because many of the home theater pre-amps that you run across will have more optical inputs than coaxial. Also Optical can carry more than coxial, it's the main reason why many products you find in recording studios are using optical. The next step from there EBU which is a more robust coaxial digital connection but is limited by the number of channels it can carry.

[Jason Dunn]

Actually I go for optical more than coaxial and others in home theater that I know do the same. It's mainly because many of the home theater pre-amps that you run across will have more optical inputs than coaxial.

Indeed - my new Kenwood amp has two optical inputs and only one coax.