Is optical audio good?

[orangecat]

So obviously a digital signal si going to be the best quality but I see allot of people seemingly disliking optical audio and sometimes I hear quality pop up in a forum thread and i wanted to know is there anything wrong with the quality of optical audio? I get that USB would be best but I was wondering about this because my PC has an optical audio output so I thought if I get a digital amp with a optical input i could improve my sound quality over the standard 3.5mm jack output?

 

This is my understanding of it all...

 

1. USB (Best)

2. Optical

3. 3.5mm / Analog output (Worst)

[creatip123]

TOSLINK got 1 major advantage compared to USB, that is its resistance against EMI or radio waves. Because it uses pure light signal, obviously it won't be affected by those radiations. Well, technically light is still affected by magnetic waves, but at astronomical level, which is save to say it's ~0 influence.

[orangecat]

TOSLINK got 1 major advantage compared to USB, that is its resistance against EMI or radio waves. Because it uses pure light signal, obviously it won't be affected by those radiations. Well, technically light is still affected by magnetic waves, but at astronomical level, which is save to say it's ~0 influence.

But over a short distance like for my PC to my desk (maybe 5 feet at most) USB shoudl be able to handle that without any problems and even if there is interference a 1 or a 0 will be treated the same as long as the bits don't change along the way. So I assume it's all up to the connected devices when it comes to the actually quality but overall optical shoudl be better than the 3.5mm outputs on my sound card?

[Majestic]

Every Interconnect has it's advantages and disadvantages. Optical and USB means the DAC needs to be in the receiving end, whereas Analog can be converted elsewhere and the signal transported to the speakers of whatever.

It all depends on the application. 

[FizzyFantom]

The issue with optical audio out isn't that it's low quality or anything like that, it's that it moves the DAC away from your device. This may be desirable in some cases (for example the Objective 2 Amp and ODAC, although these interface through USB), but sometimes a second DAC can add noise and reduce the quality of your listening experience overall (especially cheap ones).

A digital signal isn't "the best quality", it's simply the digitally stored audio data before it has been put through a digital-to-analogue decoder. The digital signal will depend not only on the hardware used to send it (cables, soundcard, motherboard) but also the files themselves. The analogue signal generated depends wholly on this digital data, so most people opt to have their DAC and AMP in the same place to reduce potential degradation.

 

overall optical shoudl be better than the 3.5mm outputs on my sound card?

No. Optical output completely depends on the DAC and AMP that you put that signal into before it goes to any speakers, whereas the 3.5mm jack will ouput an analogue singal which can drive headphones directly (or be amplified for speakers).

If you have a great DAC and AMP that you plan to put the optical output into then you will probably see an improvement. What are you planning to plug the optical out into?

[orangecat]

Every Interconnect has it's advantages and disadvantages. Optical and USB means the DAC needs to be in the receiving end, whereas Analog can be converted elsewhere and the signal transported to the speakers of whatever.

It all depends on the application. 

I just want sound from my PC that doesn't have to go through the crappy onboard DAC built into the analog outputs.

[orangecat]

The issue with optical audio out isn't that it's low quality or anything like that, it's that it moves the DAC away from your device. This may be desirable in some cases (for example the Objective 2 Amp and ODAC, although these interface through USB), but sometimes a second DAC can add noise and reduce the quality of your listening experience overall (especially cheap ones).

A digital signal isn't "the best quality", it's simply the digitally stored audio data before it has been put through a digital-to-analogue decoder. The digital signal will depend not only on the hardware used to send it (cables, soundcard, motherboard) but also the files themselves. The analogue signal generated depends wholly on this digital data, so most people opt to have their DAC and AMP in the same place to reduce potential degradation.

 

No. Optical output completely depends on the DAC and AMP that you put that signal into before it goes to any speakers, whereas the 3.5mm jack will ouput an analogue singal which can drive headphones directly (or be amplified for speakers).

If you have a great DAC and AMP that you plan to put the optical output into then you will probably see an improvement. What are you planning to plug the optical out into?

I don't think i was clear enough in my topic but basically I'm looking to get a digital audio signal from my PC (Optical or USB) so its bit perfect and have a nice high quality receiver or whatever to process the signal into an analog output. Assuming I have a very nice DAC and AMP and we are only talking about the interface used to connect them is there any real difference in terms of quality? I don't know if this is true but I saw online today that optical is limited to 1.5mbits of bandwidth compared to the 10.6gbits or so that HDMI is apparently capable of, I don't know how much of this is true or not but I think USB would be the superior interface in comparison to optical.

 

Mostly I'm just looking for input from the forum to see what your guys opinions are on these interfaces.

[Majestic]

For digital interconnect i'd take optical.

[iPhoenix]

USB has the advantage of transmitting more than simply the audio signal.  There is also the ability to transfer commands like volume, etc.   Optical is a very good choice as it's a very thin wire which in some cases can be a huge advantage.  

 

In terms of the "interference" argument, Don't worry about it either way.  USB is a digital signal unlike an analog 3.5mm. 

 

 

USB: great for transmission of audio and other data (also provides power)

Optical: great for transmission of audio with a super thin cable. 

 

Either way you're not going to be capped on bandwidth. Think about the amount of data that audio uses.  FLAC files usually top out at 1mbit anyways unless you're doing multi-channel audio mixes. 

[FizzyFantom]

I don't think i was clear enough in my topic but basically I'm looking to get a digital audio signal from my PC (Optical or USB) so its bit perfect and have a nice high quality receiver or whatever to process the signal into an analog output. Assuming I have a very nice DAC and AMP and we are only talking about the interface used to connect them is there any real difference in terms of quality? I don't know if this is true but I saw online today that optical is limited to 1.5mbits of bandwidth compared to the 10.6gbits or so that HDMI is apparently capable of, I don't know how much of this is true or not but I think USB would be the superior interface in comparison to optical.

 

Mostly I'm just looking for input from the forum to see what your guys opinions are on these interfaces.

That bandwidth for HDMI refers to the total required bandwidth for the signal, I wouldn't worry about that. PCI soundcards still work excellently, the bandwidth is not a huge issue with audio signals, especially stereo.

Yes, if you buy an excellent DAC/AMP and put the digital audio output into it then you will get excellent sound reproduction. USB is also a viable option over short distances (pretty much the same room) and intereference won't be a big issue. I've heard great things about the O2 Amp and the ODAC, they seem to be a favorite, but I would shop around and see what you can get for your budget/requirements

https://www.mayflowerelectronics.com/shop/digital-to-analog-converters/objective2-with-odac/

http://wooaudio.com/

[creatip123]

I don't think i was clear enough in my topic but basically I'm looking to get a digital audio signal from my PC (Optical or USB) so its bit perfect and have a nice high quality receiver or whatever to process the signal into an analog output. Assuming I have a very nice DAC and AMP and we are only talking about the interface used to connect them is there any real difference in terms of quality? I don't know if this is true but I saw online today that optical is limited to 1.5mbits of bandwidth compared to the 10.6gbits or so that HDMI is apparently capable of, I don't know how much of this is true or not but I think USB would be the superior interface in comparison to optical.

 

Mostly I'm just looking for input from the forum to see what your guys opinions are on these interfaces.

 

Why is the HDMI making an appearance? I thought it's USB vs Optical (and maybe vs analog)?

 

 

USB has the advantage of transmitting more than simply the audio signal.  There is also the ability to transfer commands like volume, etc.   Optical is a very good choice as it's a very thin wire which in some cases can be a huge advantage.  

 

In terms of the "interference" argument, Don't worry about it either way.  USB is a digital signal unlike an analog 3.5mm. 

 

 

USB: great for transmission of audio and other data (also provides power)

Optical: great for transmission of audio with a super thin cable. 

 

Either way you're not going to be capped on bandwidth. Think about the amount of data that audio uses.  FLAC files usually top out at 1mbit anyways unless you're doing multi-channel audio mixes. 

 

Interference in USB audio data manifests in something like jitter, and out of sync data sequences. It's not like interference in analog signal, i.e. when a call comes in on cell phone, the speaker goes 'pi pi pipipiiiii....'

 

This can be remedied by using a separate clock on the external DAC side. I think it's usually called 'asynchronous USB'