Difference between RCA & audio coaxial cables?

Question

Is there any difference between a regular RCA connection audio cable (like the stereo red/white ones) and the ones you use for digital coaxial audio connections? Same question with subwoofer cables. I noticed they sell special cables for both of these uses, but I'm just using regular RCA audio cables right now and they seem to work, if I buy the specialized cables will I notice a sound enhancement?

Answer 1

If you have really, really good equipment, great ears, and you close your eyes, click your heels together......

Probably 1 in a million people can tell the difference. I've been in the business for a long time and I will not even take big odds on getting it right once in a row.

I will bet on this though. Most people will not notice any sound enhancement by adding fancy cables.

Cheers!

Answer 2

Bkalos905 has a couple of mistakes in his answer. Digital outputs that are labeled Coax are not 5.1 they are simply digital connections that transfer the same signal as optical connectors. There is some evidence to suggest that the cheap LEDs used in these connectors and the plastic cables used to transfer the data results in more errors that the coax cables. There is no benefit for higher end cables used to transfer digital signals (Except when moving from plastic to glass in the optical cables. But why spend hundreds on a glass cable to equal the quality of a $3 RCA cable?)

Subwoofer cables are analogue cables and there are many that will argue that with analogue you need better quality cables. I would not agree, especially with a sub. I assuming that you have a powered as you mention RCA cables. A sub only has to reproduce the low frequencies; so you do only need a cable that is transferring frequencies from ~18-200hz. Not the full range of audio.

Save your cash and go buy a few more DVDs or CDs.

But if you do buy the better cables just don't buy Monster Cables, they like to sue smaller companies saying that they are copying their designs (its a freaking cable how do you copy it!) and have moved their company HQ to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes.

Answer 3

"s there any difference between a regular RCA connection audio cable (like the stereo red/white ones) and the ones you use for digital coaxial audio connections?"

Yes.

Video cables and coaxial-digital cables must be made with 75 ohm coax.

Audio RCA cables can be made with any of the popular coax like 50, 75, 110, 300.  As long as the L/R are the same, the lower speed audio signals dont care about the impedance.

The SPDIF was designed around using a video cable with 75 ohms impedance for the coaxial-digital connection.

SUBWOOFER CABLES:

A normal RCA cable works great for subwoofers.

But sometimes you get hum with an ordinary cable. This is because the subwoofer has an amplifier and the AV Receiver has an amplifier.  A normal RCA cable ties the signal ground from these 2 together.  The two amps 'fight' over who is the source of 0.000 volts and this is called a 'ground loop'.

A "subwoofer cable" with little arrows is really a broken RCA cable.  The shield is not connected at one end.  This keeps the two amplifiers from seeing each others ground and solves the ground loop problem.

"if I buy the specialized cables will I notice a sound enhancement?"

Generally no.

But does the 5.1 sound drop out every few minutes?  People have used an audio RCA cable for the coaxial-digital connection and it appears to work.  But they noticed the sound skips/drops out every so often.  Using a proper 75 ohm video cable solved the problem.

Answer 4

yes there is a difference, but it depends on how many speakers u have at the moment and what ur using it for.

stereo RCA = 2 channels (left and right) for 2.0 setup; this is ideal for listening to music as most CD's are 2 channels only.

coaxial = up to 5 channels (front R, front L, front center, surround R, surround L) for 5.0 or 5.1 setup - the 5.1 means a subwoofer is included. this is ideal for watching movies that support either dolby digital 5.1 or DTS sounds

digital optical is a better sound quality version of coaxial assuming ur watching dvd's or even blu ray movies since all data is transferred digitally i.e., no loss in sound quality

subwoofer cables are different as it is used for transferring sound from ur amp to the sub and because this signal is not digital, there is a major difference between hi quality cable and low quality cable (hence the difference in pricing).

but the truth is, it still depends on what amp/speakers u use. u could have the best cables in the world but only $50 pc speakers and it will still sound c**p.

u should match the quality of ur speaker/amp to the quality of ur cables.