Is going optical worth it?
 

Just trying to start a discussion about optical in the car.. is it worth going optical from your HU to to a processor for you?

I know that since I just installed my optical cable, there is a small difference between the optical and the analog, who's to say if it'll be better or worse in the long run? not me, yet.

also, does anyone actually believe that one optical cable is better than another for a 20' run?

i was not sold on it
my deck did not have an out for it and going form deck to processor with wire then optical to amp did not see the point
and then what amps have optical inns and did need to update yet

if i had an optical deck to an optical amp WHY NOT (i do not know how optical wire holds up over tine in a car )

Seems like a no brainer to me.
If the head unit and proc (or cd changer or whatever) are both made for using an optical hookup, why would anybody hook it up any other way?
If they're not made for optical, or not compatible, then you wouldn't use it.
Doh!
Am i missing something?

And a better cable won't sound better than a cheap one. Optical links are digital, either the signal gets there or it doesn't. And any good equipment will put out enough optical signal that a couple coke bottles would work, if you could fit it in the connector.

But there is a BIG difference in reliability, durability, re-uaseability. Spending thousands on a system, i'd spend the extra 20 bucks for a good optical cable.

It wass 1996 when buying a home stereo that i dropped about 400 bucks to do the whole thing up in Monster cables. Maybe the monster cables didn't sound any better to most people. But that stereo has been moved, changed, upgrade, replaced, moved, changed again.
And all the monster cables are still good.

The issue isn't the type of connection...it's the quality of the DAC's.

However, the DAC's built into head units are often inferior to the ones built into external processors. So in most cases, going optical to an external DAC/processor is the best route.

^^not to mention less chance of noise. If it's there use it, beats running 3 pairs of rca's to the rear anyday.

What amps have optical on them anyways?

zapco is one

Well I have an IDA-X001 and it doesn't have optical out, but to connect it to alpines processor I would have to use rcas, so would it make a difference to use optical to connect it to an amp from the processor or just normal rcas?

Step 1: Purchase an Infill T3 flip out from www.mp3car.com

Step 2: Purchase a Clarion DVH-940 processor

Step 3: Purchase a Clarion SRK7...( i think)


The T3 has HD Audio on it (Optical out)

The Clarion piece has adjustable gains and does 5.1 (Optical In)

The SRK7 is a half-DIN center channel with RCA's on it

Voila...

with digital you get no possiblity of induced noise, a lower signal to noise ratio and a super clean signal to your processor or amplifier, I won world's with analoge and digital...when running 5.1 etc, optical is the way to go. Cables wlll not wear out if properly installed...