Another limitation that you may come across on an optical digital cable would be that the quality is limited to up to 5 1 channel.
Optical cable vs hdmi audio.
As you can see from the chart above hdmi is the best type of audio cable format available compared to optical digital coaxial and rca cables.
The end connections are a little oddly shaped and the link may not be secure as in the case of hdmi or coaxial cables.
An optical digital connection uses the medium of light to transmit data through a cable s optical fibres which can be.
Both can pass multi channel audio like dolby digital.
An optical connection also can t support more than two channels of uncompressed pcm audio.
Now although both cables deliver about the same result the way they achieve that result is very different.
Both are better than analog the red and white cables.
If you can t optical is decent enough for your audio or sound needs.
This is why between hdmi and optical the simplest advice is to go hdmi as much as possible.
When comparing hdmi vs.
Launched in 2002 the biggest benefit of hdmi is it s a one size fits all connection for video and audio.
Optical cables use optical fiber to transfer data.
You can be assured of the minimum signal degradation over a distance.
The digital optical audio cable is one dimensional and only puts out the sound.
Although consistent and high quality it lacks the edge provided by the hdmi for video.
In fact some have claimed that digital optical cables relay slightly better sound than an hdmi cable.
The basics of hdmi vs.
Both hdmi and optical pass digital audio from one device to another.
Then there s the threat of damage if an optical cable is bent too tightly.
Coaxial vs optical vs hdmi which is the best audio connection to use.
Optical audio cables for sound quality hdmi is better than optical.
A digital optical cable also referred to as an optical cable will produce a reliable and consistent sound.
Both types transfer a digital audio signal from one device to the other.
Coaxial and optical cables are used in home entertainment systems to connect an audio source such as a set top box blu ray player or video game console to a component such as an amplifier audio receiver or speaker system.
To clarify the official term for optical cables that are used solely for audio is toslink.
These types of cables work through using a pulsing wave of light to relay audio signals from a source to a receiving device.
Most tvs do support optical cables but it s not nearly as popular as hdmi.