best way to hook-up DVD player

[kurtholz]

Hi All

I was hoping on some advice, just recieved the Rotel 1060 DVD player today, it is used with my 1067,i was advised to hook it up via coax, not using the optical

just curious as to why this is the better way,hoping for a second opinion or two

thanks to all

Kurt

[Kevin P]

It's a matter of personal preference, as well as what type of output(s) you have on your DVD player and input(s) on your processor. Many people will say that all other things being equal, coax sounds better than optical but there of course can be exceptions depending on your equipment, cables, and even your ears.

In many cases, the optical emitters in DVD players, and optical pickups in processors are cheaply made. Ever wonder why so many receivers have more optical inputs than coaxial? It's because they're cheaper. Also, most consumer mass-market Toslink cables are made from plastic fiber, which is inferior to the glass fiber optics the telephone company (and some high-end expensive Toslink cables) use.

There's also the matter of conversions. For coax, an electrical signal is generated in the DVD player, sent through a cable, and read as an electrical signal in the processor. For optical, there's a conversion from electrical to light in the DVD player, the light is sent over the Toslink cable, and picked up by a sensor in the receiver which then converts it back to electricity. These conversions cause some degradation in the qualiity of the signal, which can lead to timing variations (jitter).

But will one sound better than the other in your case? I can't say. The only way to find out is to try both and compare them. Depending on the quality of your gear and the cables you use, you might find one sounds better than the other. Or you may hear no difference at all.

[dan_stha]

Optical Vs Coax

hi,
I don't have the same exact model. but i have tried hooking up with the coax and the optical. i didn't find much differece in sound. So I would say its about the same. But if you have optical I'd go with the optical.
Dan

[hidefdvd]

With optical you take away the chance of introducing a ground loop hum. As far as plastic vs glass cables, you can pickup a pure glass cable for around $25US.

[jazznsoccer]

I run coax from the DVD to prepro but use optical for the cable hookup to avoid ground loop issues. I haven't heard much difference is sound quality either way.