[Closed] Optical audio cable - all the same?

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essentially, yes

yes, it's digital, a zero is a zero and a one is a one

Oakley have the best optics 😉

yes, it's digital, a zero is a zero and a one is a one

actually, not really correct. Nothing is really digital. A circuit board for example, could use 5v for '1' and 0v for 'off'. I'd imagine a optical cable uses light on as '1' and light off as '0'. But what if you've got 2v, or a dim light (due to signal degredation)??

all but the cheapest of cheap cables should circumvent the potential issue (presuming the length of the cable isn't excessive) - however the statement 'a one is a one' isn't really true

Optical = Digital = 1's and 0's down an optic fibre.

The expensive ones may be useful over a long distance, where the signal in a cheap cable may have degraded to a point it is no longer correct.

However that's unlikely, so buy a cheap one.

Thanks, I suspected there would be the usual controvertial answers! Cheap one it is then - which was the intention assuming there were no pearls of wisdom.

5lap - good point, but then if you had a dim light ( for example ) the 1s wouldn't be registered at t'other end...... so the cable would just be dead.... so it either works or doesnt. Perhaps a cheap one is more likely to not work over a long distance? But my thoughts are that 1,0 are either 1,0 at the other end or they are nothing, not there. So a cable either works or doesn't but a cable 'losing' is not an issue.... it would either work fine like any cable or not at all but not work to a lower standard.

Correct me if im wrong, im just getting into all this stuff

Certainly attenuation is the only issue you'll meet here, however if your digital signals hardware is any good it'll cope quite nicely by auto-detecting what's 0 and what's 1 over a good range, so to a point a cable is a cable. IF you were running hundreds of feet of it it might start to play on your mind. In a house it's not really an issue, things like kinks and the quality of the end connectors are more of a concern.

Just make sure you connect it the right way round.

...and don't put it too close to any large objects like wardrobes etc... the extra gravity may warp the light inside

And avoid speakers, the magnetic field will bend the light, and the picture will disappear.

What about treadmills?

Certainly attenuation is the only issue you'll meet here, however if your digital signals hardware is any good it'll cope quite nicely by auto-detecting what's 0 and what's 1 over a good range, so to a point a cable is a cable. IF you were running hundreds of feet of it it might start to play on your mind. In a house it's not really an issue, things like kinks and the quality of the end connectors are more of a concern.

In my experience termination is the only thing that matters over household distances. Some might argue that it is the only thing that matters at all. In all honesty I would be among that camp.
Audiophiles...Pah.. Niche whores of the highest order.

 

Actually, all you should need to avoid is those pesky black holes. They are buggers for playing havoc with TIR.

Damn right about the black holes. All that gravity really sucks...