Does it matter what kind of digital optical cable I use?

Question

I need to buy one so I can use my speakers on my 360 but they range from about $10 to$100. Are they really that big of a difference in quality? Should I just stick with a $10 sony cable or something else?

Since they are just a bunch of fibers I would think it wouldn't make a difference but I'm not sure.

Answer 1

Digital is digital and can't be degraded,  in other words its either going to work or it won't.

If you buy the $10 cable and it works, it will ALWAYS work and has no effect on the "quality" of the signal.

In other words, there is NO difference in quality if it works at all.

Answer 2

Any optical will do, the only time  its worth spending extra money on pricey cables is if your using expensive hifi / AV components.

Answer 3

There can be a fair difference between the range of cables. The quality varies within the price range. Some cables under the $20 mark do not play full digital audio only up convert/up scale the quality but never make it sound the way it's supposed, to only fooling your receiver. With a optical cable worth at $30 or above is when you hear the difference and sounds that were created in the recording studio.

Answer 4

       You should buy a $10 Sony cable.

Answer 5

It can make a difference. But buying top dollar cables doesn't always make sense. Diminishing returns comes to mind, i.e. your system may only see a very very small performance boost with a cable 3x the cost of a entry level one.

The best rule of thumb is all your cables should not be more than 10% of your total system cost. How much is up to you, audition cables and see where they make the most difference. Then YOU decide if the improvement is worth the cost. Almost everybody will see a improvement, but not everyone likes the cost to improvement ratio.

Now you don't mention your other parts or the lengths that you need so you need to evaluate your systems performance.