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...

"Cables wlll not wear out if properly installed" this part was part of why i did not go that wat (had not looked into it and the amp i liked also did not have it aswell )
i knew how rca's hold up over time in a car but i did not know how optical helled up over time in a car
if i do a new set up with a deck and amps that have it i will do it that way

If you used analog over digital, would you be able to keep the volume control from your source? If so, I would stick to analog. I know using the digital would mean a seperate volume control (sucks). The diference in sound is minimal.

Noise is not the main issue. The main issue is using the best D/A converter in the system.

Many systems using analogue processing run only a single pair of rca's to the eq and then a single pair to a xover...the signal is only spilt up after the xover. In these systems, running 3 pairs of rca's is irrelevant.

What pieces of equipment are to refering to?

In this case the deck has an optical out, but the processor requires optical and an Ai net cable in order to control all functions from the source. My recomentation was to use analog if it would allow the user to keep the volume at the source (which I believe it does).

I run in my ranger a flip up clarion touch with optical out to the 5.1 processor. I used rca link and ended up wrecking the connection haha so I bought the optical cable. Got ass lucky and found it for $15 instead of MSRP of $89.99. Currently havent had the chance to run it yet though so I couldn't tell ya how it works! HAHHAA Sorry, I'm on T3's for this week.

l will confirm that optical was better than rca. l was told that rca is not designed to run 20 feet in a metal enviroment. my alpine has a seperate dac that is run outside the deck. i guess if you can nail a zero bit track then your the winner despite cables used.

ofcourse optical is better... it's probably the most advanced technology outthere... used in computer network it's sickenly fast and precise --> speed of light and :smokin:

When I was putting in my system I considered using the AINet connections from my head unit to my PXA-H700 but I'm pretty sure the manual for the 700 said that volume, tone, fader, and balance would all be inoperable at the deck and only available on the face of the processor. Since the faceplate of my processor is not easily accessible I went with plain ol' RCAs.

^^what deck do you have Dukk??? My 9833 controls everything from the deck..vol, balance, fade, sub level etc... and it's connected solely by ai-net to my pxa-h701...I don't think the 700 is different in this regard, but I'm not sure.

Do you have any noise issues? I didn't have luck through just the ainet. In my experience, with the H700/701, optical is the only way to go.

id say optical is definatly the way to go as it is a bit more expensive but allot better and the quality of the sound is just great

optical all the way!

^^^no noise issues for me, even late in the night, way out in the boonies with my Alpine zero bit test track it's barely audible. When I get a dvd player, I'll go optical for sure.

I'm using a CHA-1656SP and a CHA-S604 changer. I have no noise issues.

I checked the manual too and I had it backwards - when using the AINet, the volume, sub, balance and fader work only on the deck, not on the H700. Bass and treble are disabled at the deck though.

mental note: on this day the false audio god was...in error

:hah: ...tee-totaller

...jk.... when all's said and done I think that if you're really a stickler for accuracy in sound, then some people have even gone to the next step and built their own CapPC and used an HD Audio card and then they have 8.1 in car. I wouldn't know what to do with the extra "3.0" of digital audio leftover:dunno: :ohwell:

Gotta keep you guys on yer toes...

In my defence - I did preface my statement with "I'm pretty sure.." :p