Buying a good quality optical cable and a cheap one make a big difference?

Question

Buying a good quality optical cable and a cheap one make a big difference?

Answer 1

Cheap Optical cables will work for short distances, for a few years, as they are plastic. Some more expensive optical cables are just that >expensive, not any better, just expensive.

But some more expensive optical cables are REAL GLASS, and are not only more expensive, they are more delicate, and will last indefinitely, if taken care of. The glass transfer medium ones will not Yellow or Discolor, and will give you a higher output signal with a more dynamic signal with a higher signal to noise level that will be constant throughout its lifetime.

That discoloration that the plastic ones eventually will develop, will reduce things like dynamic range, overall output, and lead them to become brittle and apt to have connection issues after a few years.

Answer 2

NO! Due to the nature of digital signals cable quality has very little effect to no effect on the sound. If you are running cables 6' or shorter get the cheapest cables you can find. I got some S-video cables, and component cables for $5 each, a fiber optic cable for $7.50, and an HDMI cable for $10 at Newegg.com. Everything in my system works perfectly.

The big block stores love to sell you cables that are ridiculessly  overpriced because they make a lot of money on them. Cables are nothing but hunks of wire (or plastic/glass in the case of fiber optic cables) and there is no reason they should be very expensive. And in the digital domain it is either there or it isn't. If it works at all it will be working at it's top quality.