Might be I'm overthinking it all at the 'level' of equipment i have...so if you say 'just run what you have' I get it too... :) Now I think the biggest advantage of coaxial over consumer optical is that coaxial is will work better over distances greater than ten feet, though I could be wrong about that.

S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a type of digital audio interface used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. If better to use the receiver; I have an optical cable already. I take it from your opinion that there shouldn't really be anything in it between that and a similar quality coaxial cable? (makes sense to me).It also has to be implemented correctly so it's always running of battery. Many claim they do but in reality they really don't. Sinewave batteries can just produce stable clean power when done correctly, which is often very expensive. They could easily update both to support full bandwidth, all formats but it's all about HDCP, which is a shame. Also, maybe Toshiba invented the original digital toslink connected but both are S/PDIF, which was created by Sony and Philips.(see below). The consumer version of the TOSLINK standard has stayed stable for decades. A TOSLINK optical audio cable from the 1990s will work just like one you buy today. Even fiber HDMI cables typically have 2 to 4 copper wires, which is why they are still shielded. Pretty sure toslink is no metal outside the connections, which are often plastic also. Noise is hard to pin down sometimes because it depends on your house/apartment wiring, potential ground loops, ECT... TOSLINK is just the shortened trade name for Toshiba Link, both named for the company that introduced optical audio as a consumer standard.

Although the cables are fiber optic, the output isn't very powerful. The laser system your local fiber internet service provider uses might be able to shoot a signal down several thousand feet of fiber optic cable, but your TV's TOSLINK port certainly won't.Variations like in labeling are just that, "Digital Audio,""Optical Audio," and "Digital Audio (Optical)" all refer to the same standard. Are There Different Types of Optical Audio Connections and Cables? The TOSLINK system is still capable of carrying up to 7.1 channels of very high-resolution audio. For the majority of consumer setups, there will be absolutely no discernible difference between audio quality when using an HDMI cable or a TOSLINK cable. While 20 years ago these sorts of misconceptions about digital signals were understandable, today it should be common knowledge that digital interference is not the same as analog interference and behaves completely differently.

The majority of TV and AV products launched over the last few years support HDMI version 2.0, but HDMI 2.1 (which supports 8K resolution content and features such as ALLM) is becoming more common among modern TVs and AV kit.If better to use the panasonic dac, then should I go ordinary analogue interconnects, or the balanced pin cables? why? Pretty much this outside the fact that almost all HDMI cables shorter then 10 to 15ft max are copper. Really, you just need a well shielded cable although it's always a good idea to keep all cable runs as short as possible in my experience. In addition to our overview above, people often have specific questions about optical audio cables and connections. Here are some of the common ones. Are TOSLINK, Optical Audio, and Digital Audio All The Same?

The answer to this will depend on the kit you’re using. If it’s a straight choice between coaxial and optical, we’d go for the former. In our experience, a coaxial connection tends to produce better audio quality than optical, allowing for a higher level of detail and greater dynamics. Also, coaxial doesn't have the bandwidth required to support high-quality surround sound formats such as Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. So, in a modern home cinema setting, its uses are quite limited. You'll find HDMI inputs and outputs a firm fixture on the best TVs, Blu-ray players, AV receivers and, increasingly, soundbars. An entry-level cable like the AudioQuest Pearl HDMI will suit a wide range of systems.The main downside to a coaxial digital connection is the potential transfer of electrical noise between your kit. Noise is bad news when it comes to sound quality, but it exists in all AV components to one degree or another. Unfortunately, using a coaxial connection enables noise to travel along the cable from the source to your amplifier. In addition to the long run as a tech writer and editor, Jason spent over a decade as a college instructor doing his best to teach a generation of English students that there's more to success than putting your pants on one leg at a time and writing five-paragraph essays. While his days of steering students toward greatness are behind him, his lifelong desire to delight, entertain, and inform lives on in his work at How-To Geek.