Digital Sound

[NoCalMike 0]

I was looking through my receiver manual randomly today, and it was talking about the digital sound inputs. It has 2 opticals and one coaxial. Then it mentioned that "Coaxial is better for loud sound"

 

Is this true, or is this more of an opinion by the manufactuer (Sony)?

 

Does anyone have experience with both?

 

Currently I use the coaxial input for my DVD player, but when I get the PS3 on wednesday it has an optical port, so I was going to use that instead(because the PS3 plays and upconverts standard DVDs, I won't even need to have my current DVD player hooked up anymore)

 

I always was of the thought that the optical cable was the better of the two connections, even if it was only a minor improvement.....

 

 

[AntiLeaf33 0]

I was looking through my receiver manual randomly today, and it was talking about the digital sound inputs. It has 2 opticals and one coaxial. Then it mentioned that "Coaxial is better for loud sound"

 

Is this true, or is this more of an opinion by the manufactuer (Sony)?

 

Does anyone have experience with both?

 

Currently I use the coaxial input for my DVD player, but when I get the PS3 on wednesday it has an optical port, so I was going to use that instead(because the PS3 plays and upconverts standard DVDs, I won't even need to have my current DVD player hooked up anymore)

 

I always was of the thought that the optical cable was the better of the two connections, even if it was only a minor improvement.....

 

I was always under the impression that optical was better then coaxial. I assume that optical is a digital medium, and coaxial is an analog medium. I'd probably say go with the optical first, and see how you find it.

[NoCalMike 0]

I was looking through my receiver manual randomly today, and it was talking about the digital sound inputs. It has 2 opticals and one coaxial. Then it mentioned that "Coaxial is better for loud sound"

 

Is this true, or is this more of an opinion by the manufactuer (Sony)?

 

Does anyone have experience with both?

 

Currently I use the coaxial input for my DVD player, but when I get the PS3 on wednesday it has an optical port, so I was going to use that instead(because the PS3 plays and upconverts standard DVDs, I won't even need to have my current DVD player hooked up anymore)

 

I always was of the thought that the optical cable was the better of the two connections, even if it was only a minor improvement.....

 

I was always under the impression that optical was better then coaxial. I assume that optical is a digital medium, and coaxial is an analog medium. I'd probably say go with the optical first, and see how you find it.

 

That is what I am going to do. I assume that I will be listening to movies at a louder volume then I play video games, so I will check to see if I hear any difference when I am watching movies on the surround sound. If not, then I will keep with my PS3 only setup, but if for some reason there is a difference, I will just have to buy an HDMI splitter and have the DVD player and the PS3 both hooked up.

[Ripper 0]

They are the same

[NoCalMike 0]

Well on the box for the optical cable, it has the diagram where it shows the "good, better, best, ULTIMATE" chart.

Co-axial is listed as "better"

Optical is listed as "best"

HDMI "Ultimate"

 

I will be using HDMI to hook it up to the TV, but I have to use optical to hook it up to the receiver. Either way, my setup will be pretty nice.

[Craig Th 0]

I was looking through my receiver manual randomly today, and it was talking about the digital sound inputs. It has 2 opticals and one coaxial. Then it mentioned that "Coaxial is better for loud sound"

 

Is this true, or is this more of an opinion by the manufactuer (Sony)?

 

Does anyone have experience with both?

 

Currently I use the coaxial input for my DVD player, but when I get the PS3 on wednesday it has an optical port, so I was going to use that instead(because the PS3 plays and upconverts standard DVDs, I won't even need to have my current DVD player hooked up anymore)

 

I always was of the thought that the optical cable was the better of the two connections, even if it was only a minor improvement.....

 

I was always under the impression that optical was better then coaxial. I assume that optical is a digital medium, and coaxial is an analog medium. I'd probably say go with the optical first, and see how you find it.

 

That is what I am going to do. I assume that I will be listening to movies at a louder volume then I play video games, so I will check to see if I hear any difference when I am watching movies on the surround sound. If not, then I will keep with my PS3 only setup, but if for some reason there is a difference, I will just have to buy an HDMI splitter and have the DVD player and the PS3 both hooked up.

No, don't do that. Use your PS3 as a DVD player. It is one of the best upconverting players.

[Ripper 0]

Well on the box for the optical cable, it has the diagram where it shows the "good, better, best, ULTIMATE" chart.

Co-axial is listed as "better"

Optical is listed as "best"

HDMI "Ultimate"

 

I will be using HDMI to hook it up to the TV, but I have to use optical to hook it up to the receiver. Either way, my setup will be pretty nice.

 

 

Thats because they want to make more money. The only time the optical would be better is if you need a 25+ foot cord to hook it up(coaxial will lose quality with a longer cord because of the distance for the signal to travel). But since you aren't keeping your reciever in the house next door, optical and coaxial are EXACTLY the same in performance. .

[NoCalMike 0]

Well on the box for the optical cable, it has the diagram where it shows the "good, better, best, ULTIMATE" chart.

Co-axial is listed as "better"

Optical is listed as "best"

HDMI "Ultimate"

 

I will be using HDMI to hook it up to the TV, but I have to use optical to hook it up to the receiver. Either way, my setup will be pretty nice.

 

 

Thats because they want to make more money. The only time the optical would be better is if you need a 25+ foot cord to hook it up(coaxial will lose quality with a longer cord because of the distance for the signal to travel). But since you aren't keeping your reciever in the house next door, optical and coaxial are EXACTLY the same in performance. .

 

Yeah. I have no complaints with the quality I get from the Coaxial cable, however since the PS3 only has an optical port, I have to switch to optical cable, or keep both the DVD player and PS3 hooked up, which also means buying an HDMI splitter, and since an optical cable costs a lot less then an HDMI splitter.........yeah.

[Craig Th 0]

BUT YOU DON'T NEED A DVD PLAYER!

[NoCalMike 0]

BUT YOU DON'T NEED A DVD PLAYER!

 

I know I don't. I am not talking about the PS3 capabilities, I was referring to the way my system is setup.

 

But that means nothing anymore, because once I got home last night with the PS3, I hooked up the optical cable, and the sound quality was terrific. I wouldn't say it is leaps and bounds better then using the coaxial, but there is definately a difference, and hell if my receiver doesn't make it LOOK more special, with the optical cable hooked up, I saw glowing lights and scrolling audio bit information I have never seen on my receiver before. LOL.

[Ripper 0]

Once again...seroiusly, there is no difference. There is no way you heard a difference between the two because it doesn't exist.

 

And I think Moles point is why would you have a DVD player and the PS3 there. You don't need the DVD player thus having coaxial isn't actually a problem.

 

But you already bought optical so thats fine.

[NoCalMike 0]

Once again...seroiusly, there is no difference. There is no way you heard a difference between the two because it doesn't exist.

 

And I think Moles point is why would you have a DVD player and the PS3 there. You don't need the DVD player thus having coaxial isn't actually a problem.

 

But you already bought optical so thats fine.

 

Well upon listening further, with the help of Spiderman 3 blu-ray. The only difference I seem to pick up, and it is very minor, is that with the coaxial cable, the base seems to be more thunderous, and with the optical the bass is a tad less but the overall sound seems more clean and accurate, but the overall quality is so similar, I couldn't really recommend one over the other. I'd definately say, go with whatever is cheaper or makes for the easier setup in your personal home theater system.