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Columbia ISA home – › Wiring Diagrams TOSLINK Audio Cables Digital Audio Cables: Toslink (SPDIF)  Toslink Cable - Fiber Optic Light transmission of digital audio streams  TV connection to Soundbar using Optical cable What is a Toslink cable? What is a Toslink Cable - Optical Digital Audio Cable TOSLINK or Toshiba LINK is a connection standard for digital audio streams. It is a standard which uses fiber optic cables. The Toslink cable was created by Toshiba and transmits digital audio signals in audio equipment. This type of audio cable converts electric audio signals to light. These signals are then transmitted through glass, plastic, or silica fiber. In short, a Toslink cable is a digital audio cable (optical fiber) that transmits audio signals through light pulses instead of electricity. The Digital optical cable comes with a connector with a tiny lens at each end and comes with a cover to protect the lens from scratches when not in use. Toslink cable, also know as an optical digital audio cable is used for linking components like surround sound home theater systems to a HDTV or HD cable box. Toslink cables use a very unique connector and usually have a small plastic protector covering the fiber optics which is removed before connecting. While these cables support stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 multi-channel audio, they do not support high-definition audio (DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby ATMOS). An optical connection also can’t support more than two channels of uncompressed PCM audio. You need HDMI for these audio formats. Most digital TVs have a Toslink optical output for audio. How to listen with headphones to a TV without a headphone jack. A standard in digital video and audio is PCM, pulse code modulation, and Toslink was invented by Toshiba in the early 1980's to connect their recievers and CD players to receive the PCM bitstream. It became a common connector for most manufacturers. Fiber optic materials Quartz glass optical fibers may be used, but most likely your cable will be made with either quality multistrand plastic optical fibers or cheaper 1mm plastic optical fiber. Toslink cables can run up to 10 meters in length, but are typically 5 meters or less. Anything longer than 10 meters and it is likely that a signal booster will be needed. Newer consumer electronics, however, can have Toslink cables that will run 100 feet or more. As audio cables go, the toslink cable has become very popular and you can find them at varying prices through many different manufacturers. Digital media includes CD's, MP3's and DVD’s, in which audio signals are processed by a chip. Digital audio cables are manufactured with the aim to preserve and transmit the digital signals, maintaining the highest possible quality. They come in two distinct flavors; coaxial digital audio cables with an RCA connector and optical digital audio cables with the Toslink connector. Coaxial cables transmit digital signals in pulses of electricity. They consist of copper wires shielded from interference with the help of surrounding aluminum wraps. The wires are housed in a strong outer case. Coaxial digital cables used for audio applications have an impedance of 75 ohm, which means they can handle considerable energy. Also, they have a larger bandwidth than a normal RCA cable. Optical Digital Audio Cables (also called S/PDIF, for Sony/Philips Digital Interface) The other type of digital audio cable is the optical cable. Optical cables are the premier choice for transferring digital audio signals between components. They do not use RCA style connectors; instead they use what are called Toslink (or EIA-J). These cables use pulses of light to transmit data, instead of copper wire. Since they are immune to interference from electromagnetic and radio-frequency interference, the signals do not degrade and weaken over long distances. Distortion caused by resistance, inductance and capacitance is eliminated, with the result that the best reproductions of digital signals are made possible. Even though optical digital cables are more expensive, for true audiophiles looking for a superior experience with audio, nothing beats optical cable technology. Be careful using optical cables. If they get bent too far or stepped on, they could be damaged. Choosing Between Coaxial and Optical Cables for digital audio transmissions. Many audio/video components allow both types of connectors, either coaxial or optical. Most users will not be able to tell the difference in sound. The circumstances outlined below show the pros and cons of both, and should help choose which cable is right for you. 1. Optical cables are a better option in environments with lots of electromagnetic interference, for instance, near personal computers or power cords sending out radio frequency noise. 2. Optical cables should be the preferred option for long distance transmission. While 3 or 6 feet won't make much difference, if you need speakers that are spread over 25 to 50 feet, optical digital cables are definitely the way to go. 3. In low budget circumstances, coaxial cables are usually more economical. 4. Coaxial cables are the only choice when the sound system set-up requires you to bend the cable to fit certain areas. Also, the performance of optical cables may get compromised if the system is moved frequently. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) HDMI connections provide another way to carry digital audio signals. The HDMI protocol combines high-definition video, multi-channel audio, and inter-component control in a single digital interface. This lone interconnect has the ability to transmit uncompressed digital video and up to eight channels of audio from source to display. Even more, the HDMI connection enables audio/video components to share data and commands, thus unifying an oft-disjointed collection of "boxes" into a real, working system. Based on Silicon Image's TMDS ® technology, HDMI is also fully compatible with PCs and display devices incorporating the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) standard. For all of its amazing ability, the HDMI connector is surprisingly compact and robust. Based on copper cables (as opposed to optical fibers), HDMI makes few demands as to cable length and bend radius. Runs to 50 feet or more are easily accommodated. HDMI may well be the perfect way to transmit high definition images to a ceiling mounted projector or from multiple source components to a single control processor. HDMI is rapidly finding its way into many upscale home cinema products. The important feature of fiber optic cables is that they convert audio signals into light impulses as opposed to electric signals. TOSLINK cables usually transmit their signals as the red LED lights. The TOSLINK standard was first developed by Toshiba to provide connections in its CD players. It soon caught on and became the most popular connection format for audio signals. It is mainly used to connect CD player, DVD players, satellite dish receivers and other equipment which require reliable means of transporting audio signals. An important difference between TOSLINK and other audio cable formats is that since TOSLINK uses fiber optic cables, it is not susceptible to electromagnetic disturbance and line noise. TOSLINK cables are usually restricted to being 5m long. The maximum possible length for a TOSLINK cable without a signal booster is found to be around 10m. Depending on its application, TOSLINK cables may use 1mm thick plastic fiber optic wires which are inexpensive or for high quality equipment it may also use high quality multi-strand fiber optic cables. If you shine a light at one end of a coil of TOSLINK cable, you will be able to see it at the other end. This is because fiber optic cables are made up of light conducting material and hence transmit the light from one end to another. There's a secondary type of jack called mini-toslink jacks. There are adapters on the market to connect the mini toslink to the regular standard Toslink cable. The most common users of the mini-toslink jacks are Apple computers and portable mini-disc players. The audio signal from a Toslink cable was originally limited to 48 kHz at 20 bits, but has now been extended to support all modern formats. The only exceptions to this are DTS HD audio streams, TrueHD, and Dolby Digital Plus. HDMI is required for these audio formats. After Toshiba's invention of the Toslink they're now the standard in audio cables, to connect CD players and other things to the main component. There are many manufacturers now so the name of Toslink describes the cable not particularly related to Toshiba. Manufactured 1983 to present.
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