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my only real issue is that there are no god damn cheap toslink switches/mixer, behold a cheap toslink matrix. Not to mention that I want a Displayport/Toslink matrix so I can finally hook up 2 computers to 3 Monitors and a soundsystem, and select which screen is to be showen from which computer. Not to mention I want a matrix with low latency so I can play games on it..... (Sorry for the rant, but if you know a solution tos (wink wink) me a link)
@@NickStallman Xbox 360's also had the port. They were used for the wireless transceivers for wireless headsets on that console. Chat was sent down a cord into the controller, which sent it using their Xbox Wireless signal. They removed the port from the E revision of the 360 (the one that looked like an Xbone). The Xbone used it's newer wireless standard to send all audio to and from the controller, which would send it to the headset with either the proprietary audio port or the 3.5mm jack. That meant that if you had the stereo adapter, any headset you used could be used without plugging into the console. Also, headset makers didn't need to make a transceivers that you have to stick in your entertainment center. And the headsets no longer had to have batteries in them since all audio was analog from the controller. Unfortunately, this meant that you could no longer disconnect the headset from the controller and just listen if you weren't chatting. They still keep Toslink for some sound systems and for using Xbox 360 headsets on next gen. Also, neither console supports Bluetooth for some reason, hence why you can't use a headset without the controller on the one unless it supports Xbox Wireless. I don't know if it's a patent with Sony or what.
You forgot about one of the biggest benefits of TOSLink: no ground-connection. Groundloops are a relatively common issue for audio-equipment and can lead to hums or other forms of noise. When you connect two devices with an optical cable like TOSLink there's no electrical connection, so there's no way for disturbing ground loops to occur.
@@TheScrubmuffin69 yeah mine doesn't have HDMI that's the reason for using the toslink! I'm not able to afford nice things like that I'm on disability so my check doesn't go for those kind of thing.....
The shell of the fiber optic cable in the ocean doesn't completly protect the data. They use an optical communications repeater to regenerate the optical signal. These repeaters are used to extend the reach of optical communications links by overcoming loss due to attenuation of the optical fiber
Pretty much anything transmitting electromagnetic signals over distance need repeaters. Like phone lines for example. All those black cylinders hanging under the lowest wires.
I still use Toslink in my Hifi setup, and will do so for the foreseeable future. Most audio devices don't have an HDMI output so the only way to get digital audio off it is toslink.
@@SanderEvers yeah i just figure it will transport out the digital to other device that have dac and then goes to speaker. what im curious is, why there is analog out like Line Out that usually also goes to dac? it doesnt make any sense
I love the optical audio port, there are many reasons it's better than HDMI. The only thing that will kill it is people making news articles like this that are in turn reducing the consumer demand for it. Optical audio is amazing because A) it connects audio in a way that ground loop hums are impossible. B) I don't want my speakers to have brains. They should do exactly 1 thing and 1 thing only, that's play the music being sent. Want to know why the *real* reason TOSLink is falling out of favor? All technologies which do not allow integrated DRM (HDCP, in this case) are mysteriously disappearing
You may be on to something regarding DRM, but ground loops are only possible when amplifying an analog audio signal sent from a different grounding point over a distance over electrically conductive wires. Any digital audio technology (eg, coax (same protocol as TOSLINK, no DRM), HDMI, PulseAudio over TCP (open source & obviously has no DRM)) will render a ground loop impossible. The only advantage that an interface lacking an electrical ground has regarding ground loops is that you could send analog audio without ground loops. Such interfaces could be for example: light or AM radio etc. And yes it is possible to send multi-channel analog audio over a single fibre, etc if you use different wavelengths of light (colours) for each channel. Of course, with current tech it would be a waste of money to send multi-channel audio over a single fibre. Digital solves all practical problems and is low cost. Optical has the downside that cutting/joining/splitting a cable into multiple outputs is much more challenging than working with copper wires. Logically digital over electrical wires is much better.
@@joshuamaserow i'm not trying to be rude here, but your comments are simply incorrect. You're also conflating digital vs analog modulation with digital vs analog audio. Any sound which is transported over a different medium - like fiber - must be modulated then demodulated. This inherently must be digital. Ground loop hums are an electrical phenomenon caused by interconnecting the grounds of two or more devices where a potential difference exists causing an infinite loop of feedback on the ground. I have experienced exactly this personally, a ground loop hum between my PC and monitor that was caused by my HDMI cable. Please stop presenting as if a subject matter expert on things you have no idea about.
Though as far as not having brains, toslink enabled audio devices still need a dac to convert the pcm or dolby signal to multi channel analog audio, so they need a minimum of processing. I do agree though that everything should be as dumb as possible. Good ol analog audio has ground loop and interferance (and level shifting sometimes) problems, but it works reliably and it's easy to diagnose.
My old receiver that I still use has a Coaxial and Optical. I liked having a coaxial on my motherboards for hooking it up from the PC to the Receiver, but that is phasing out, and all I see motherboards now with is the Optical one still, so I'm stuck using Optical.
@@Smokeahontuz WTF Nope opposite, they were very popular in the 2000s. Mostly as one of the 3.5mm also on Laptops. Now modern PC are abandoning complex onboard audio. None of my Skylake generation computers have Onboard Toslink, i have to use a USB converter.
I remember selling the gold plated toslink cables made by Monster. "It's gonna sound so much better because it's gold plated and 10 times the price." Ah the memories of a slimey upsell.
@Jondahl Davis You can have a 10 million $ toslink cable sprinkler with pixie dust and embedded with platinum and gold My cheap china toslink cable will still sound the same because it's DIGITAL
@Jondahl Davis you didnt read gold plated toslink, did you? edit: side note, better cables are better, thicker gauge means lower resistance, gold is lower resistance than copper, and less reactive so it wont degrade, but most systems aren't limited by the cable, its by the driver hi/low pass filters in each speaker. definitely did the -Old junk analog cable. -new analog cable -$200 grounded analog cable. aside from the junk, they sound the same
There is a quality aspect to every cable but the right price for most cables is somewhere little over double over cheapest one you can find. Anything more and you're paying for snake oil.
We use Toslink all the time in professional audio studios. You can for example have 8 microphones recording a drum set. 8 microphone cables go into 1 analog/digital convertor, and we use 1 toslink to connect it to the main soundcard which often supports 8 inputs. So you end up with a total 16 channels to record on. That's plenty for a garage band...maybe not a symphony but good enough for most small bands.
Toslink is still thriving in the Hi-Res/Audiophile community. As of 2024, the flagship DACs that can sometimes cost as much as a car still have Toslink as an option, whether optical or coaxial. It's a "dumb" connection compared to HDMI Arc or USB in the sense that it either works or it doesn't. It can support upto 24bit/192KHz, depending on the external DAC's capabilities. Also, it doesn't suffer from ground loops like USB It's also available in quite a few mid-ranged models as well; such as S.M.S.L.'s SU-6, which I personally use, and having the optical Spdif as an input option saves me from utilising one of my computer's USB ports (I switched between Optical output and USB output to compare the quality and although the USB input in the DAC supports an insane 32bit/768Khz sampling rate, even with the high res FLAC collection I have, and audio CDs, there wasn't any discernable difference.) Moreover, I can enjoy 5.1 surround sound using the optical output as well (even though it's lossy) using the same spdif output from my PC into a 5.1 system I also own. So the drawback would probably be lack of support for HiRes surround sound (SPDIf only supports DTS/Dolby digital surround sound and not DTS HD/Atmos), but you'd probably need a premium surround sound speaker system in the first place for the claimed "night and day" difference to be fully appreciated as well as an Ultra HD BluRay movie collection (or the movie rips derived from them)
I still use toslink. Its convenient to have a ps4, xbox, pc, etc all connected to the TV with hdmi's, then a single toslink from TV to receiver for all of them to run through the surround sound.
Toslink will have a home in recording studios for a while still, being able to carry so many audio channels is very beneficial for connecting multiple audio interfaces together and have huge amounts of audio I/O all synced together
@@razvann6907 Really smart guy? Not the fact that it has vastly inferior bandwidth and distance support? Discontinued just because of DRM "hurr durr big corps $$$ money money money "?
@@AQHackAQ Yeah, really. What happened when we needed more bandwidth than what USB 1.0 could offer? We got USB 2.0... The bandwidth limitations of TOSLink come from the interface not the cable and the interface appeared in 1983 and is pretty much unchanged since then.
*Before* USB, IMO! Most PCs introduce some unfavorably noise/hum over their USB connections. My motherboard was over $500 and it does this, but optical provides electrical isolation from the PC, eliminating the hum. Just plug the DAC into a high-quality USB power block and you’re set. Plugging into the PC, even if only for power, re-introduces the noise!
@@jSyndeoMusic That's right, but it's likely the DAC that filters out your hum just by the way it physically works. Usually it's the switch-mode power supplies that cause the issue, not the MoBo at any price point. The buzz or the hum is likely the ripple in your PSU.
I actually use it from my over the top PC to my DAC since I've noticed that if I go any other way there is some distortion and a slight hiss in the sound that comes out of my speakers.
Yep good ol' Adat. Nowadays I use it primarily to sent digitally generated CV signals to my eurorack modular synth. But what I'm really waiting for is the mass adoption of network audio (Dante protocol), it sure is readily available but still expensive.
@@magoostus yeah I see what you mean. I think now the 2 big contenders are Dante(proprietary protocol = stronger reliability? = more expensive) versus AVB(somewhat open source = unequal development? = more affordable) we'll see...and as a side note, there is talk of midi 2.0 over network cables and Dante, yay!
Someone in the comments has quite correctly mentioned Toslink's use in the Audiophile community with high-end Audiophile external DACs still offering SPDIf input. Another group of people who still may prefer it are *gamers.* Yes gamers! Take a look at some of the latest flagship gaming motherboards from *MSI* and *ASUS* : if you look at the I/O ports, quite a few also include an optical SPDIF output. Some monitors don't always have speakers for the HDMI cable to terminate the audio signal to, not to mention there are some speakers such as some models from Edifier that have optical SPDif inputs which eliminate the need for a dedicated external DAC. Gaming motherboards can be quite noisy (internally: electronically) and even if properly shielded, there may be some interference in the analogue output stage, so having SPDIf as an option besides HDMI for audio also makes sense because apart from the signal being a digital one, offering galvanic isolation thus removing groundloops, it also offers more output flexibility as many A/V receivers (or some speakers like those from Edifier that I've already mentioned/TVs) also include an optical/coaxial SPDIF input.
I'm 43 and I remember when cassettes became (re)recordable CDs and beta tapes were replaced by an inferior VHS tapes... But I'm not feeling old, but ancient. :D
@@andreiarg As a tech standard 37 years is ancient. That's how long CDs have been around. It doesn't matter if they are used today or not. Iron Age started about 3000 years ago but we still use iron but using iron is ancient history to us. We've used bronze and clay even longer...
@@BavarianM People hear the word "Optical" and assume it's laser based. Optical media that ran on optical drives that DOES have lasers in them doesn't help.
Maybe for home it's going away, but toslink is still very useful in the studio. It just uses the ADAT protocol instead of S/PDIF. ADAT lets you send 8 channels of digital audio over a toslink cable, or 4 channels with a higher bitrate. It's still very common to see on higher end audio interfaces as a way to expand the amount of I/O you have.
@@sezjames2472 It can do 44.1 - 96khz. I'm sure really high end studios don't use it... I don't really know. But a lot of low-midrange audio equipment still has ADAT and it's useful.
I'm glad this cable is still around for sure. Otherwise I would have to route my HDMI signal through my reciever and then to the ARC on my TV. I'd rather have uninterrupted flow for video to ensure I can still run 4k 60 or 1080p 120fps content with no worries of loss.
Optical is used a lot in audio recording like hooking up a preamp to an interface or a Dante stage box and that type of thing. So it's pretty useful for that
As long as HDMI standards keep getting updated and receivers with older versions of HDMI keep becoming useless bricks after 5 years, Toslink will still be relevant.
yeah, something I have started noticing is odd incompatiblities with my DVI and HDMI hardware, with some systems just refusing to talk to each other since they were manufactured years apart. All my Toslinlk stuff is humming along with equipment sometimes manufactured decades apart. The downside of rapid progress is stuff breaks a lot if you don't put everything on the treadmill. I even just picked up some new toslink based stuff less than a month ago, in no small part due to knowing it would actually work with existing stuff. Meanwhile, my latest HDMI monitor has only worked with 1 out of 4 things I connected it to.
What sucks about hdmi is that if you bought your receiver 6 years ago, you probably don’t want to use it anymore cuz it doesn’t support 4k hdr (most likely) where as the dedicated audio cable doesn’t change nearly as much
A very important point left out here is that HDMI works just fine over fiber optic. I have a 50 foot run from my PC to my TV and it's all fiber. They aren't even that expensive considering their length and extremely high bandwidth.
UA-cam channel Technology Connections has a more in-depth video on this topic. Other factors in TOSLink/SPDIF demise is signal generation via basic red LED, not an actual laser, and lack of ability to transmit power (even if HDMI power is very limited, it's there for small ICs).
Yep, when I had a bigger apartment, I had 5.1 surround with an older receiver (2002ish) attached to a TV from 2013, TOSLINK was there for me. TOSLINK, you will always be loved for being there before HDMI had conquered the realm.
Pointless story alert: So years ago (we are talking like 2002-ish) my first little surround sound system was a cheap Logitech set I got from Electronics Boutique for like $75 and I was able to use it for my new PS2 which like most of us doubled as our DVD player as well, that had this port I thought this was the coolest thing ever. "This is using light to give me crisp wonderful sound that so cool?!?!" I also had the connector on the original Xbox that used it as well later but well that was it, all the electronics after that one or the other didn't have that connection so after that sound system got replaced, when I upgraded to a higher watt audio system , but that was all she wrote for toslink for me... That was until about a month ago, 20 years later, when I recently got some new PC speakers I've wanted since they came out (Razer Nommo Pro's) I was pleasantly shocked to see this port was an option on the Nommo's even came with a cable for it and just so happens my current motherboard on my computer also happens to rock this toslink port. You bet your ass I was super giddy to connect my audio to it.
4:30 - that's a reference from before you were born too, everyone likes/watches monty python at some point in their lives. The holy grail was released in 1975.
Dux Ducis maybe you can explain it because I've seen the movie and there is no connection between audio connections and the Holy Grail. It just sounds contrived.
@@danielsjohnson there's a man trying to throw away his grandpa during the plague (onto the cart carrying all the dead) but he says he's not dead - the joke is trying to get rid of your grandparents
I tried to connect my tv to my home theater with hdmi and it just wouldn't play sound. But if I connect it to my pc it works perfectly well. Bought a TOSLINK cable and it works perfectly well
Optical is far from dead in audiophile music. Even a basic priced optical cable can transmit an exceptionally high quality lossless stereo signal from source to DAC.
Fun fact, TOSlink was first used for TOW wire guided anti tank missiles and MK48 torpedoes as early as the 1960s. TOSlink was invented and pioneered by Houghs Electronics. It was then made available for civilian applications in the 1980s, which Toshiba promptly bought exclusive rights to. The Original TOSlink cables had tremendous signal carry range up to 40 miles in undersea conditions. TOSlink was stored as 5 miles of 6 inch spool of optical tubing filement for the TOW missile
It's probably differential signaling that did it. This is a technique where you have two wires, one with a positive voltage and the other with a negative voltage, and they flip around to send data, like "it's a 0 if wire A is -5v and wire B is 5v, but it's a 1 if wire A is having the 5v and wire B the -5v" etc.. This way is a lot more resilient to interference and quicker to detect when the voltages flipped than something just going "0v for 0, 5v for 1", and is the magic behind HDMI/Sata/USB/Firewire/Lightning/PCI-E... I think we either discovered it or some patent expired or the electronics got good enough around 1999 or so, and we started to use it on everything with great success.
i love my optical cable, so much easier and i imagine higher quality than the 3 aux ports to 6 rca port adaptor cables. edit: 1:21 is exactly what i mean! edit 2: how long is the distance from your computer or console to your amplifier system :p
4:22 wait... What era of tech is considered vintage? When someone says they have 'vintage' audio gear I assume we're talking about a record player from the 70's for a guitar that is at least 30 years old... Are you implying that tech audio tech from the 90's and 00' is vintage? If it is, then I'm vintage AF, at a mere 35.... WTF! Thanks LLT.. For validating my level of Geezer and initiating my mid-life crisis! Now excuse me while I go into my basement and sob over all my 'vintage' gear.
I still use it with my pc because of one very important reason. I use a mixer that is also hooked to my line in for the mic, if I use copper cables for both line in and line out, i create a ground loop and get all sorts of noise. Using toslink for the line out to a DAC breaks the loop, no more annoying noise.
100 times better than HDMI since it always plays the audio of whatever is on the TV screen, instead of having to switch the soundbar or surround sound cables over every single time you change inputs.
It's also used in the music industry under the ADAT standard, which allows up to 8 channels of 192kbs audio. It's used to add more channels to audio interfaces and stuff like that
HDMI with ARC has been, by far, the most elegant solution for me. I don't know if it's technically "the best" but it works damn well and its simple to set up.
Also handy as it's the same connector as the ADAT standard. Most studios have moved well beyond this but it is still great for home studios and connecting legacy recorders and audio devices, as well as solving grounding issues as mentioned.
I never done that I think as not knew of them, get gold plated ethernet cat 7 and hdmi as think last longer but toslink is always for my audio, trying to find a soundbar or stereo speakers with it is hard though
"Hey, a reference from before you were born, probably." Good old days! A not so distinct past where you could eat outside and not like die after 🤪 Nicely done James, cheers! 😂
Toslink has always been my fav, simple because it was standard for pc/consoles/tvs and most sound system or add on system. It was standard for DVD/Blu ray. ( how could forget Blu ray?) Only one company never support toslink and Dolby digital was Nintendo. Cuz they too cheap. Imo Toslink sounded way better vs anything from analog RCA cable. I hope ps5 will still have toslink. I still have old 2005 (I think) Yamaha surround 5.1 sound system. Lol ya it’s old but still works. Someday will replace it with better sound system with HDMI, btw I’ve NEVER broken or has had toslink failed. I was happy DTS/Dolby Digital 5.1/6.1 sound. I thinks sound industry has gone over kill with 1 million different audio codec now, consider most ppl still use standard HD tv with tiny built in speakers. but there are those like us who do like older stuff and 5.1+ sound. But maybe I’ll feel different if ever buy newer sound system with good speakers.
TOSlink is great until you realize it lacks the ability to transmit uncompressed Blu-ray audio. And it for sure makes a difference. On a Blu-ray at least DVD makes no difference as the sound is always compressed.
The "problem" I've always had with HDMI compared with a dedicated cable like TOSLINK is that HDMI feels 'sub-optimal' in most of cases where you need all that extra data speed. The issue is that HDMI has both video and audio over the same cable, which works nicely as an entry level consumer solution. You just hook your media device up directly to your display, one cable and you're done. However, displays aren't capable of making good use of that audio data, so now if you want to actually use all that data that makes HDMI so nice, you need to pass the audio signal through your TV to some sort of receiver. Now we're back at the point of having a two cable solution, so the fact that HDMI can combine everything into a single cable is irrelevant and we're essentially using one for video and one for audio, neither one needing to take full advantage of the HDMI spec. It's nice, and it works, but I've always felt it's kind of a mixed bag of what it's trying to do.
1:13 This picture includes another connector which can do exactly the same as TOSLINK, lol. It's labeled "COAXIAL" and it can do everything TOSLINK can, but over a copper wire. So if you wanted to save cables, you could also send a digital audio signal over a single RCA cable.
You can transmit Toslink via laser, and a bare laser can go through several panes of glass. Problem with that is you then need to deflect the laser-carried signal to a receiver, and the receiver needs to be modified so the target is bigger, but _it can be done_ and Matthew Perks (of DIY Perks) used it to deliver single-channel sound to all of his Hi-Fi speakers across the ceiling; minimal cabling for tx and rx required.
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Toslink is still widely used in the HIFi community. It is very good for solving grounding issues. I use it for my listening area and recording studio.
I had that problem. Solved it with Toslink.
my only real issue is that there are no god damn cheap toslink switches/mixer, behold a cheap toslink matrix. Not to mention that I want a Displayport/Toslink matrix so I can finally hook up 2 computers to 3 Monitors and a soundsystem, and select which screen is to be showen from which computer. Not to mention I want a matrix with low latency so I can play games on it..... (Sorry for the rant, but if you know a solution tos (wink wink) me a link)
For 2 channel, it's great.
If you want to use it to connect a soundbar to a TV, which is a quite common usecase, it's mostly garbage because of latency and sync problems...
@@erebostd do you have any links so I can read upon this?
Honestly, I never knew it was called TOSlink. No one I've ever talked to calls it that. They just call it an optical port.
there were other optical connectors. Toslink is the most popular
Toslink is the main way I referred to it.
@@jasonbrown467 1394 was FireWire IIRC
S/PDIF is another name for it if you are more of a Sony/Phillips kind of guy instead of Toshiba.
@@NickStallman Xbox 360's also had the port. They were used for the wireless transceivers for wireless headsets on that console. Chat was sent down a cord into the controller, which sent it using their Xbox Wireless signal.
They removed the port from the E revision of the 360 (the one that looked like an Xbone).
The Xbone used it's newer wireless standard to send all audio to and from the controller, which would send it to the headset with either the proprietary audio port or the 3.5mm jack. That meant that if you had the stereo adapter, any headset you used could be used without plugging into the console.
Also, headset makers didn't need to make a transceivers that you have to stick in your entertainment center. And the headsets no longer had to have batteries in them since all audio was analog from the controller. Unfortunately, this meant that you could no longer disconnect the headset from the controller and just listen if you weren't chatting. They still keep Toslink for some sound systems and for using Xbox 360 headsets on next gen.
Also, neither console supports Bluetooth for some reason, hence why you can't use a headset without the controller on the one unless it supports Xbox Wireless. I don't know if it's a patent with Sony or what.
"speaking about death" is the weirdest transition i've heard in a while
its...chilling
It's quite actually offensive because of the Kung Flu going around.
That and "I got 120 hours in 2 days"
could be a ad for a undertaker. They are really busy right now and you should be prepared
I thought he's gonna talk about corona...
I heard this video's audio through a TOSLINK cable!
me too:)
Same. Can't complain when I paid a total of 10 bucks for a 5.1 system.
Same, my wireless headphones are hooked up that way.
Me too. My TV is connected to my audio receiver via toslink!!
@@JoelKalich god have mercy on your sound quality
“Probably” I know exactly what you’re talking about. ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF BEING OLD??!!
No, he's merely pointing out that you *are* old!
Sarrienne Cousland fake news
I mean it was from before he was born as well haha
I actually had to look it up, because I didn't believe him, but… 1975! Yeah, he got me.
It's a 45 year old movie, median human age is around 30, their audience is probably even younger.
Safe bet!
You forgot about one of the biggest benefits of TOSLink: no ground-connection. Groundloops are a relatively common issue for audio-equipment and can lead to hums or other forms of noise. When you connect two devices with an optical cable like TOSLink there's no electrical connection, so there's no way for disturbing ground loops to occur.
I'm actually still using a toslink to connect my newer TV to an older surrounded system.
I mean that's what all receivers have still. That and hdmi throughput which both sound the same
Same
Same here
@@TheScrubmuffin69 yeah mine doesn't have HDMI that's the reason for using the toslink! I'm not able to afford nice things like that I'm on disability so my check doesn't go for those kind of thing.....
Will do this too, in the near future.
The shell of the fiber optic cable in the ocean doesn't completly protect the data. They use an optical communications repeater to regenerate the optical signal. These repeaters are used to extend the reach of optical communications links by overcoming loss due to attenuation of the optical fiber
Dont know what you are talking about but i will have one of those with mayo pls.
@@frietpan8917 You had the whole crew crackin up bro. 😐
TOS-Link is also a simple flashing LED. lol
Pretty much anything transmitting electromagnetic signals over distance need repeaters. Like phone lines for example. All those black cylinders hanging under the lowest wires.
I think they actually already have a video talking about repeaters and the such.
Optical audio always fascinated me as a kid "what's this red light at the back of me PS2?"
I remember poking it lol 😂
Same here when I bought my (second hand) ps3
Same. I knew it was better, but I had no way to take advantage of it back then.
I still use Toslink in my Hifi setup, and will do so for the foreseeable future. Most audio devices don't have an HDMI output so the only way to get digital audio off it is toslink.
I got a few with hdmi but always use toslink for audio
I think using the ports in my new amp is the only way to hear the built in DAC.
why not using 3.5mm? or rca??
@@aqwandrew6330 To use a higher quality dac than in the source device.
@@SanderEvers yeah i just figure it will transport out the digital to other device that have dac and then goes to speaker.
what im curious is, why there is analog out like Line Out that usually also goes to dac? it doesnt make any sense
I love the optical audio port, there are many reasons it's better than HDMI. The only thing that will kill it is people making news articles like this that are in turn reducing the consumer demand for it. Optical audio is amazing because A) it connects audio in a way that ground loop hums are impossible. B) I don't want my speakers to have brains. They should do exactly 1 thing and 1 thing only, that's play the music being sent.
Want to know why the *real* reason TOSLink is falling out of favor? All technologies which do not allow integrated DRM (HDCP, in this case) are mysteriously disappearing
You may be on to something regarding DRM, but ground loops are only possible when amplifying an analog audio signal sent from a different grounding point over a distance over electrically conductive wires. Any digital audio technology (eg, coax (same protocol as TOSLINK, no DRM), HDMI, PulseAudio over TCP (open source & obviously has no DRM)) will render a ground loop impossible. The only advantage that an interface lacking an electrical ground has regarding ground loops is that you could send analog audio without ground loops. Such interfaces could be for example: light or AM radio etc. And yes it is possible to send multi-channel analog audio over a single fibre, etc if you use different wavelengths of light (colours) for each channel. Of course, with current tech it would be a waste of money to send multi-channel audio over a single fibre. Digital solves all practical problems and is low cost. Optical has the downside that cutting/joining/splitting a cable into multiple outputs is much more challenging than working with copper wires. Logically digital over electrical wires is much better.
@@joshuamaserow i'm not trying to be rude here, but your comments are simply incorrect. You're also conflating digital vs analog modulation with digital vs analog audio. Any sound which is transported over a different medium - like fiber - must be modulated then demodulated. This inherently must be digital. Ground loop hums are an electrical phenomenon caused by interconnecting the grounds of two or more devices where a potential difference exists causing an infinite loop of feedback on the ground. I have experienced exactly this personally, a ground loop hum between my PC and monitor that was caused by my HDMI cable.
Please stop presenting as if a subject matter expert on things you have no idea about.
Irony
Though as far as not having brains, toslink enabled audio devices still need a dac to convert the pcm or dolby signal to multi channel analog audio, so they need a minimum of processing.
I do agree though that everything should be as dumb as possible. Good ol analog audio has ground loop and interferance (and level shifting sometimes) problems, but it works reliably and it's easy to diagnose.
i still dont understant wth peope need hdmi for audio? why not just trrss?
Toslink is Dying!
Audiophiles: Mhm.
Real audiophiles: coax
My old receiver that I still use has a Coaxial and Optical. I liked having a coaxial on my motherboards for hooking it up from the PC to the Receiver, but that is phasing out, and all I see motherboards now with is the Optical one still, so I'm stuck using Optical.
Yeah this video is fucking stupid. Newer motherboards are just now including it.
@@Smokeahontuz WTF Nope opposite, they were very popular in the 2000s. Mostly as one of the 3.5mm also on Laptops. Now modern PC are abandoning complex onboard audio. None of my Skylake generation computers have Onboard Toslink, i have to use a USB converter.
@@Neojhun lol my new b550 has a toslink
I remember selling the gold plated toslink cables made by Monster. "It's gonna sound so much better because it's gold plated and 10 times the price." Ah the memories of a slimey upsell.
@Jondahl Davis Well it's an optical cable and the gold ain't transmitting light
@Jondahl Davis You can have a 10 million $ toslink cable sprinkler with pixie dust and embedded with platinum and gold
My cheap china toslink cable will still sound the same because it's DIGITAL
@Jondahl Davis you didnt read gold plated toslink, did you?
edit: side note, better cables are better, thicker gauge means lower resistance, gold is lower resistance than copper, and less reactive so it wont degrade, but most systems aren't limited by the cable, its by the driver hi/low pass filters in each speaker. definitely did the -Old junk analog cable. -new analog cable -$200 grounded analog cable. aside from the junk, they sound the same
@@ilovefunnyamv2nd There might be a slight difference in sound, but not a $200 worth of difference to buy them, thats my reasoning.
There is a quality aspect to every cable but the right price for most cables is somewhere little over double over cheapest one you can find. Anything more and you're paying for snake oil.
We use Toslink all the time in professional audio studios.
You can for example have 8 microphones recording a drum set. 8 microphone cables go into 1 analog/digital convertor, and we use 1 toslink to connect it to the main soundcard which often supports 8 inputs. So you end up with a total 16 channels to record on. That's plenty for a garage band...maybe not a symphony but good enough for most small bands.
Bring out your dead!
Toslink: I'm not dead!
I feel fine!
I feel happy!
Toslink is still thriving in the Hi-Res/Audiophile community. As of 2024, the flagship DACs that can sometimes cost as much as a car still have Toslink as an option, whether optical or coaxial. It's a "dumb" connection compared to HDMI Arc or USB in the sense that it either works or it doesn't.
It can support upto 24bit/192KHz, depending on the external DAC's capabilities. Also, it doesn't suffer from ground loops like USB
It's also available in quite a few mid-ranged models as well; such as S.M.S.L.'s SU-6, which I personally use, and having the optical Spdif as an input option saves me from utilising one of my computer's USB ports (I switched between Optical output and USB output to compare the quality and although the USB input in the DAC supports an insane 32bit/768Khz sampling rate, even with the high res FLAC collection I have, and audio CDs, there wasn't any discernable difference.)
Moreover, I can enjoy 5.1 surround sound using the optical output as well (even though it's lossy) using the same spdif output from my PC into a 5.1 system I also own.
So the drawback would probably be lack of support for HiRes surround sound (SPDIf only supports DTS/Dolby digital surround sound and not DTS HD/Atmos), but you'd probably need a premium surround sound speaker system in the first place for the claimed "night and day" difference to be fully appreciated as well as an Ultra HD BluRay movie collection (or the movie rips derived from them)
I still use toslink. Its convenient to have a ps4, xbox, pc, etc all connected to the TV with hdmi's, then a single toslink from TV to receiver for all of them to run through the surround sound.
If your tv has HDMI ARC its even easier, you just run an hdmi cable from your tv ARC port to your receiver.
@@coltsfan1518 ARC doesnt work a lot of time for me. I had to switch to toslink too. ARC is notorious for this compatibility issue.
If you want to use it to connect a soundbar to a TV, which is a quite common usecase, it's mostly garbage because of latency and sync problems...
I do that with a single jack, LOL.
@@herranton oic. I was not aware that's a thing
Give him a leopard jacket and he'll almost be the next guy to act in the pen-pineapple-Apple-pen song
how did you come up with this old stuff?
1:04 .....Hey James, If your done with my PC can I have it back
I had that case, but for the life of me I can't remember the make or model.
He slammed it, he should give you money.
@@crazyksp8344 I mean it'd be something like 5$ for that case.
2:02 Also, toslink uses a simple LED instead of real lasers that are being used in submarine optical cables
Toslink will have a home in recording studios for a while still, being able to carry so many audio channels is very beneficial for connecting multiple audio interfaces together and have huge amounts of audio I/O all synced together
Why air quotations for "DVD player"...they were and still are a real thing
I came looking for this comment.
X
I was making this comment if it wasn't in the top ten, haha.
Also, the sarcastic tone, like: 'Yeah, people that believe in DVD players are crazy.'
What century do you live in?
@@Khloya69 21st, Just like you. I'm just not ignorant
Us: _gets a new TV with optical digital audio out and no copper out_
TosLink: _is dying_
I wanna hear my yiff animations with highest quality
@@xxmountaindewxx7893 the only true way to watch furry porn is in VR with Dolby Atmos moaning
@@falsely ah, I see, a true fur of culture
@@MaximNightFury what's a yiff
@@lycanrocvevo147 Was going to answer honestly then I saw both your name and recognized where your picture came from
Toslink doesn't have DRM like certain HDMI protocols, so there's that.
This sounds more likely to be the reason for discontinuing TOSLink than other issues with it.
@@razvann6907 Really smart guy? Not the fact that it has vastly inferior bandwidth and distance support? Discontinued just because of DRM "hurr durr big corps $$$ money money money "?
@@AQHackAQ Yeah, really. What happened when we needed more bandwidth than what USB 1.0 could offer? We got USB 2.0...
The bandwidth limitations of TOSLink come from the interface not the cable and the interface appeared in 1983 and is pretty much unchanged since then.
@@AQHackAQ no response
@@AQHackAQ huh duh no response lol
0:23 "but did you know, that one optical cable"
Yes, a channel called Technology connections covered this cable.
Yeah I wish they would at least credit the video, it's way more in-depth
I too, had seen that video: ua-cam.com/video/ICcEOXVZ3F0/v-deo.html
Alby beat me to it.
I liked the Technology Connections video. Gave me more information about one of my favourite cables.
Oh, someone has been watching Technology Connections.
Cleiton Oliveira YES
Linus Media Group is probably binging his videos while in lockdown/quarantine, much like every other nerd around.
Clearly not if they think lasers are involved 😉
Optical is the go to connection for most DACs after usb
*Before* USB, IMO! Most PCs introduce some unfavorably noise/hum over their USB connections. My motherboard was over $500 and it does this, but optical provides electrical isolation from the PC, eliminating the hum.
Just plug the DAC into a high-quality USB power block and you’re set. Plugging into the PC, even if only for power, re-introduces the noise!
@@jSyndeoMusic That's right, but it's likely the DAC that filters out your hum just by the way it physically works. Usually it's the switch-mode power supplies that cause the issue, not the MoBo at any price point. The buzz or the hum is likely the ripple in your PSU.
I actually use it from my over the top PC to my DAC since I've noticed that if I go any other way there is some distortion and a slight hiss in the sound that comes out of my speakers.
Agreed, use usb to D10 to optical to thx 788 optical input
@@Android-ng1wn It's called digital jitter and is very prevalent in USB. Only really relevant in HiFi contexts though.
I just recently found the channel Technology Connections, and I saw his video about this just yesterday :O (highly recommended channel)
ua-cam.com/video/ICcEOXVZ3F0/v-deo.html Here's the video :)
+1 that. Very nice channel.
+1, he really digs DEEP into each topic he talks about
I was hoping someone would comment about Technology Connections!
+1 Technology Connections deserves more attention! I really love that channel and can watch it for hours.
"Fiber to the home is becoming popular"
Australia: no.
America: No, but we'll charge you more for it anyway, because monopoly, oh and here's a bonus data cap for no reason, because we can.
...And we're raising your rates. Ha ha, no, not the connection speed. You get to pay us more for the same thing. Enjoy.
optics are still used to carry sound using ADAT lightpipe, this is very common in the pro audio domain to add extra audio I/O to audio interfaces
Yep good ol' Adat. Nowadays I use it primarily to sent digitally generated CV signals to my eurorack modular synth. But what I'm really waiting for is the mass adoption of network audio (Dante protocol), it sure is readily available but still expensive.
@@philippes1987 ya, dante, AES67, AVB/MILAN, SoundGrid. Who will be the winner in this "Battle of the ethernet audio standard"
@@magoostus yeah I see what you mean. I think now the 2 big contenders are Dante(proprietary protocol = stronger reliability? = more expensive) versus AVB(somewhat open source = unequal development? = more affordable) we'll see...and as a side note, there is talk of midi 2.0 over network cables and Dante, yay!
"a reference from before you were born"
Remembers when MP and the Holy Grail released. Now I just feel old...
Same. I am absolutely an old fart.
I read the title as:
Why is this cool: Cable Dying
and got all confused
picked it up as drying cable
lol, to be fair thats certainly a question i would want to hear the answer to
Someone got recommended the Technology Connections backlog lol
hell yeah I love Technology Connections
Thought the same thing. Almost felt like there should have been a bit of credit given. His video is more comprehensive too.
Umbra lol I wasn’t trying to take it that far
inb4 Techquickie video on electromechanical jukeboxes
Right?
Someone in the comments has quite correctly mentioned Toslink's use in the Audiophile community with high-end Audiophile external DACs still offering SPDIf input.
Another group of people who still may prefer it are *gamers.* Yes gamers!
Take a look at some of the latest flagship gaming motherboards from *MSI* and *ASUS* : if you look at the I/O ports, quite a few also include an optical SPDIF output. Some monitors don't always have speakers for the HDMI cable to terminate the audio signal to, not to mention there are some speakers such as some models from Edifier that have optical SPDif inputs which eliminate the need for a dedicated external DAC. Gaming motherboards can be quite noisy (internally: electronically) and even if properly shielded, there may be some interference in the analogue output stage, so having SPDIf as an option besides HDMI for audio also makes sense because apart from the signal being a digital one, offering galvanic isolation thus removing groundloops, it also offers more output flexibility as many A/V receivers (or some speakers like those from Edifier that I've already mentioned/TVs) also include an optical/coaxial SPDIF input.
"I'm not talking about CDs, which you can learn more about" - I feel old, as if he were refering to an ancient technology lost in time...
i'm 35 btw
I'm 43 and I remember when cassettes became (re)recordable CDs and beta tapes were replaced by an inferior VHS tapes... But I'm not feeling old, but ancient. :D
All the stuff I had as a kid used spools of magnetic tape... And we all know analog sounds so much better. That's why I use wax cylinders.
Cds arent exactly ancient technology, theyre still used today, kind of in consoles with bluray disks and rarely some media is also released on bluray
@@andreiarg As a tech standard 37 years is ancient. That's how long CDs have been around. It doesn't matter if they are used today or not. Iron Age started about 3000 years ago but we still use iron but using iron is ancient history to us. We've used bronze and clay even longer...
Only 23, and I still remember using cd’s....
To quote some Toy Story: "It's not a laser! It's a little lightbulb that blinks!"
It's exactly that 😂 toslink has no lasers
@@BavarianM People hear the word "Optical" and assume it's laser based. Optical media that ran on optical drives that DOES have lasers in them doesn't help.
0:58 ......James and Colton reenacting Titanic scene....
Hold up, what? Is that the kazoo I'm hearing? From what is this haha
@@martijn5848 here is my fav cover ua-cam.com/video/JRiSOMkDMX0/v-deo.html its not kazoo tho
Optical audio will still always be the king of the 2000s in our hearts
Maybe for home it's going away, but toslink is still very useful in the studio. It just uses the ADAT protocol instead of S/PDIF. ADAT lets you send 8 channels of digital audio over a toslink cable, or 4 channels with a higher bitrate. It's still very common to see on higher end audio interfaces as a way to expand the amount of I/O you have.
No studios use it becuase it's limited to standard bitrate I thought
@@sezjames2472 It can do 44.1 - 96khz. I'm sure really high end studios don't use it... I don't really know. But a lot of low-midrange audio equipment still has ADAT and it's useful.
"This ones not dead yet"I feel fine! I'm happy I'm happy!" Whack!!!
BTW Vikings war of clans is made by the same developers that made RAID: Shadow Legends
It all makes sense now! Thanks for the info.
Here come the second waves of Raid shadowlegend on youtube
Bump!!!
It's been said that the vikings still used toslink cables in their drakars
I'm glad this cable is still around for sure. Otherwise I would have to route my HDMI signal through my reciever and then to the ARC on my TV. I'd rather have uninterrupted flow for video to ensure I can still run 4k 60 or 1080p 120fps content with no worries of loss.
Optical is used a lot in audio recording like hooking up a preamp to an interface or a Dante stage box and that type of thing. So it's pretty useful for that
As long as HDMI standards keep getting updated and receivers with older versions of HDMI keep becoming useless bricks after 5 years, Toslink will still be relevant.
yeah, something I have started noticing is odd incompatiblities with my DVI and HDMI hardware, with some systems just refusing to talk to each other since they were manufactured years apart. All my Toslinlk stuff is humming along with equipment sometimes manufactured decades apart. The downside of rapid progress is stuff breaks a lot if you don't put everything on the treadmill.
I even just picked up some new toslink based stuff less than a month ago, in no small part due to knowing it would actually work with existing stuff. Meanwhile, my latest HDMI monitor has only worked with 1 out of 4 things I connected it to.
I got a Pulseway ad with Linus in it😂
In MKBHD video too.
SOOO SAMEE ME TOOOO
What sucks about hdmi is that if you bought your receiver 6 years ago, you probably don’t want to use it anymore cuz it doesn’t support 4k hdr (most likely) where as the dedicated audio cable doesn’t change nearly as much
"Fibre to the home"
Weeps in Australian
A very important point left out here is that HDMI works just fine over fiber optic. I have a 50 foot run from my PC to my TV and it's all fiber. They aren't even that expensive considering their length and extremely high bandwidth.
I'm literally watching this video, while listening to speakers connected to a TOSLINK cable.
Speaking of death...already a better sponsor segue than anything Linus has ever come up with.
UA-cam channel Technology Connections has a more in-depth video on this topic. Other factors in TOSLink/SPDIF demise is signal generation via basic red LED, not an actual laser, and lack of ability to transmit power (even if HDMI power is very limited, it's there for small ICs).
Yep, when I had a bigger apartment, I had 5.1 surround with an older receiver (2002ish) attached to a TV from 2013, TOSLINK was there for me. TOSLINK, you will always be loved for being there before HDMI had conquered the realm.
Techqucikie : _Optical is becoming more common_
Me : *_Using mobile data as usb tethering to have internet on my pc._ Noice👍.
I used to do that 12 years ago as still had dial up and I had a laptop, also time when 10p a text and £1 per day on internet
@@mlee6050 *sad future noises
Pointless story alert: So years ago (we are talking like 2002-ish) my first little surround sound system was a cheap Logitech set I got from Electronics Boutique for like $75 and I was able to use it for my new PS2 which like most of us doubled as our DVD player as well, that had this port I thought this was the coolest thing ever. "This is using light to give me crisp wonderful sound that so cool?!?!" I also had the connector on the original Xbox that used it as well later but well that was it, all the electronics after that one or the other didn't have that connection so after that sound system got replaced, when I upgraded to a higher watt audio system , but that was all she wrote for toslink for me... That was until about a month ago, 20 years later, when I recently got some new PC speakers I've wanted since they came out (Razer Nommo Pro's) I was pleasantly shocked to see this port was an option on the Nommo's even came with a cable for it and just so happens my current motherboard on my computer also happens to rock this toslink port. You bet your ass I was super giddy to connect my audio to it.
Techquickie: Talking about very fast Internet
Me: Has 30 mbit copper cables
Toslink assures that there will be no ground loops between equipments, damn practical.
4:30 - that's a reference from before you were born too, everyone likes/watches monty python at some point in their lives. The holy grail was released in 1975.
Dux Ducis maybe you can explain it because I've seen the movie and there is no connection between audio connections and the Holy Grail. It just sounds contrived.
@@danielsjohnson there's a man trying to throw away his grandpa during the plague (onto the cart carrying all the dead) but he says he's not dead - the joke is trying to get rid of your grandparents
I love this guys. Love their witty tech diddily doodles.
I tried to connect my tv to my home theater with hdmi and it just wouldn't play sound. But if I connect it to my pc it works perfectly well. Bought a TOSLINK cable and it works perfectly well
Optical is far from dead in audiophile music. Even a basic priced optical cable can transmit an exceptionally high quality lossless stereo signal from source to DAC.
I always wondered what the heck that port behind my PS2 was. Now I know.
Surround sound for DVDs and some games
Fun fact, TOSlink was first used for TOW wire guided anti tank missiles and MK48 torpedoes as early as the 1960s. TOSlink was invented and pioneered by Houghs Electronics. It was then made available for civilian applications in the 1980s, which Toshiba promptly bought exclusive rights to. The Original TOSlink cables had tremendous signal carry range up to 40 miles in undersea conditions. TOSlink was stored as 5 miles of 6 inch spool of optical tubing filement for the TOW missile
0:45 I swear that was called Spdif or something like that
It has many names
Its still very much alive in the professional audio industry. Manufacturers still continue to make interfaces and converters with ADAT i/o
3:25 Just imagine "Eminem - Lose Yourself" on the background and look at this guy xD
It's probably differential signaling that did it.
This is a technique where you have two wires, one with a positive voltage and the other with a negative voltage, and they flip around to send data, like "it's a 0 if wire A is -5v and wire B is 5v, but it's a 1 if wire A is having the 5v and wire B the -5v" etc..
This way is a lot more resilient to interference and quicker to detect when the voltages flipped than something just going "0v for 0, 5v for 1", and is the magic behind HDMI/Sata/USB/Firewire/Lightning/PCI-E...
I think we either discovered it or some patent expired or the electronics got good enough around 1999 or so, and we started to use it on everything with great success.
Techquickie idea: Why computer take long time to cancel operation. (I mean how hard can it be, just stop doing what you're doing.)
That's a pretty simple answer, whatever you were doing has to be reverted and whatever was installing has to be removed
1. htop
2. sigkill
3. Profit
4:28 - SHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! My LaserDisc Player still believes it is the "wave of the future" and it overheard you!!!! 💿
i love my optical cable, so much easier and i imagine higher quality than the 3 aux ports to 6 rca port adaptor cables. edit: 1:21 is exactly what i mean! edit 2: how long is the distance from your computer or console to your amplifier system :p
Same! all the devices connected to the tv with hdmi, and then one single optical cable from tv to receiver.
I totally agree, when I shop for a new motherboard I don't even consider boards that don't have toslink.
If you want to use it to connect a soundbar to a TV, which is a quite common usecase, it's mostly garbage because of latency and sync problems...
@@erebostd Unless you try to play back the audio simultaneously on the TV and the soundbar, it isn't noticeable.
It's not a higher quality actually. That is unless you're plugging a potato audio source into a potato receiver.
I use an optical on my PS2. Its amazing the difference of sound quality between optical and the red/white audio cables
"You could use five or six cables, or just one." 🏃♂️
Great video on TOSLINK, instructive and fun to watch !
"Speaking of death..."
😆
4:22 wait... What era of tech is considered vintage? When someone says they have 'vintage' audio gear I assume we're talking about a record player from the 70's for a guitar that is at least 30 years old... Are you implying that tech audio tech from the 90's and 00' is vintage? If it is, then I'm vintage AF, at a mere 35.... WTF! Thanks LLT.. For validating my level of Geezer and initiating my mid-life crisis! Now excuse me while I go into my basement and sob over all my 'vintage' gear.
I use my toslink cable almost everyday, with my headset.
I still use it with my pc because of one very important reason. I use a mixer that is also hooked to my line in for the mic, if I use copper cables for both line in and line out, i create a ground loop and get all sorts of noise. Using toslink for the line out to a DAC breaks the loop, no more annoying noise.
1:04
I remember when I had a PC like this. It would still run faster than Internet Explorer though.
No top comment for you today spammer.
100 times better than HDMI since it always plays the audio of whatever is on the TV screen, instead of having to switch the soundbar or surround sound cables over every single time you change inputs.
I've always seen that SPDIF output on the audio port section of my PC, i guess that is it
Spdif is sony’s name, toslink is toshiba name, there is also known as digital optical
It's also used in the music industry under the ADAT standard, which allows up to 8 channels of 192kbs audio. It's used to add more channels to audio interfaces and stuff like that
where can i find that map used around 1.55 its really interesting
HDMI with ARC has been, by far, the most elegant solution for me. I don't know if it's technically "the best" but it works damn well and its simple to set up.
Serves me right! Expected Spanish Inquisition, and they did not appear... :'(
ua-cam.com/video/sAn7baRbhx4/v-deo.html
Noone expects the spanish inquisition
Also handy as it's the same connector as the ADAT standard.
Most studios have moved well beyond this but it is still great for home studios and connecting legacy recorders and audio devices, as well as solving grounding issues as mentioned.
Just remember to buy gold plated toslink cables for best audio quality!!
@@Tallnerdyguy r/whoosh
;)
I never done that I think as not knew of them, get gold plated ethernet cat 7 and hdmi as think last longer but toslink is always for my audio, trying to find a soundbar or stereo speakers with it is hard though
Techquickie: This COOL cable is dying!
Me: It existed?
Since when we call devices with Toslink “vintage”? Or am I that old already?
"Hey, a reference from before you were born, probably."
Good old days! A not so distinct past where you could eat outside and not like die after 🤪
Nicely done James, cheers! 😂
Toslink has always been my fav, simple because it was standard for pc/consoles/tvs and most sound system or add on system. It was standard for DVD/Blu ray. ( how could forget Blu ray?) Only one company never support toslink and Dolby digital was Nintendo. Cuz they too cheap. Imo Toslink sounded way better vs anything from analog RCA cable. I hope ps5 will still have toslink. I still have old 2005 (I think) Yamaha surround 5.1 sound system. Lol ya it’s old but still works. Someday will replace it with better sound system with HDMI, btw I’ve NEVER broken or has had toslink failed. I was happy DTS/Dolby Digital 5.1/6.1 sound. I thinks sound industry has gone over kill with 1 million different audio codec now, consider most ppl still use standard HD tv with tiny built in speakers. but there are those like us who do like older stuff and 5.1+ sound. But maybe I’ll feel different if ever buy newer sound system with good speakers.
@Z3U5 Ya I remember using Toslink/S/PDIF on for both Xbox 360/PS3. Gears of war in 5.1 = Totally epic sound even on my old system lol.
TOSlink is great until you realize it lacks the ability to transmit uncompressed Blu-ray audio. And it for sure makes a difference. On a Blu-ray at least DVD makes no difference as the sound is always compressed.
The "problem" I've always had with HDMI compared with a dedicated cable like TOSLINK is that HDMI feels 'sub-optimal' in most of cases where you need all that extra data speed. The issue is that HDMI has both video and audio over the same cable, which works nicely as an entry level consumer solution. You just hook your media device up directly to your display, one cable and you're done. However, displays aren't capable of making good use of that audio data, so now if you want to actually use all that data that makes HDMI so nice, you need to pass the audio signal through your TV to some sort of receiver. Now we're back at the point of having a two cable solution, so the fact that HDMI can combine everything into a single cable is irrelevant and we're essentially using one for video and one for audio, neither one needing to take full advantage of the HDMI spec. It's nice, and it works, but I've always felt it's kind of a mixed bag of what it's trying to do.
"Why IS This COOL Cable Dying?" What a crappy title... How is that useful for anyone who is seeking information on TOSLINK?
Cause they could put Toslink in the video tags?
I found an old MiniDisc Personal player and it still works.It has a TOSLINK . Amazed at the quality of build.
I am sick of those thumbnails, I am out
Toslink still being the most convenient way to hook up your TV to a surround system - and the cable is so thin and tidy :)
1:13 This picture includes another connector which can do exactly the same as TOSLINK, lol. It's labeled "COAXIAL" and it can do everything TOSLINK can, but over a copper wire. So if you wanted to save cables, you could also send a digital audio signal over a single RCA cable.
You can transmit Toslink via laser, and a bare laser can go through several panes of glass. Problem with that is you then need to deflect the laser-carried signal to a receiver, and the receiver needs to be modified so the target is bigger, but _it can be done_ and Matthew Perks (of DIY Perks) used it to deliver single-channel sound to all of his Hi-Fi speakers across the ceiling; minimal cabling for tx and rx required.
Great video James.. Keep em coming
watching this while connected to toslink :)
Love this new channel!