Which is better: optical digital audio or audio through HDMI?

Question

I have an HDTV with an upconverting DVD player. Both having HDMI and optical inputs/outputs. I also have a receiver for surround sound that has BOTH inputs, and was wondering which one would give me the best quality sound?

Answer 1

optical cable for audio hdmi for video. optical cables are much much better then standard electrical cables. thats my hookup right now. i have my hdmi hooked up to my hdtv from my ps3 and a optical cable connected to my 5.1 receiver. i tried both hdmi and optical for sound and optical is better.

good luck!

Answer 2

I've heard both and I really did like the HDMI output a lot better.  It's not that big of a difference but I really did like the HDMI output better because it has a much better crisp and clearer sound, it will make your senses tingle I love the HDMI especially with the surround sound.  The optical sound is clear but just does not sound as great.

Answer 3

There are many misconceptions in home theater and the "Optical is better ", argument is one of them.

Optical incorporates HDCP, (the spec for HD Copyright Protection). This prevents an optical cable from delivering uncompressed multichannel high definition audio. 2.0 uncompressed is the best you can get over optical, which then is utilized by the Dolby 5.1 matrix, DTS, (or whatever other sound field you select), in your receiver. .... That is why, with an optical cable, you can get only normal 5.1 Dolby digital, the core mix, but it is not "true" high definition audio, its only delivering what's referred to as "core audio".  

-The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), the interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. HDMI (1.3), provides 340 MHz bandwidth, and provides support and for 8-channel uncompressed digital audio.

It supports the newer HD formats DTS-HD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio.

In other words HDMI gives the capability for realistic sound as it was recorded, with more accurate response in addition to upgrade-ability for future formats.

Answer 4

Fiber optics is supposed to be a pure form of transmitting a signal.Coupled with digital,which is encode-decode,the transmition is pretty pure.

Answer 5

HDMI digital audio - multi-channel audio is time multiplexed into the TMDS data streams. Audio is much lower data rate (192kbps) and the extra time is used to demux the audio signals.

ATSC HDTV standards and supports 8-channel, 192kHz, uncompressed digital audio and all currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby Digital and DTS)

HDMI 1.3 Digital Audio - 1.3 adds additional support for new lossless digital audio formats Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™ with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements.

Digital Coaxial from what I have read can pass through 96kHz/24bit audio, probably cause its characteristics are similar to AES/EBU. *Coaxial however is still sent electronically so there are factors such as EMI, RFI, and possibly EMP (rare cases)

Digital Optical seems to be the bells and whistles feature, it can pass through 96kHz/24bit audio, however you need a very well made transport and DAC to do so, something like the MSB with reclocking and jitter reduction. Plus do to the fact that Optical is light based it has constrants that pend on the manufacturers desire  fiber strands in the cable. (not always stated in specs)

Digital Fiber (Optical Digital Audio) is better cost more than Digital Coax which is really analog since is uses RCA type of connector (orange band) Uses copper instead of fiber uses light to transfer the sound digital. Copper users electronic impluses to transfer the sound.

I now have all 3 and still use the Toshlink Digital Optical Fiber cables more. HDMI is good but the 192kbp is okay.. But nothing beats for 5.1 and 7.1 Digital HDMI True HD on HDMI 1.3 version.

Go to http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_enter... click on setup systems and test for yourself the difference.

Answer 6

Optical is he worst of all possible connections, so HDMI will be better.  It works better on my system for sure.

Answer 7

Same both are digital signals.  Optical however can go longer distances.

Answer 8

The quality will be the exact same as both are digital, but the benefit to using HDMI on an upconverting dvd player is that you have only 1 cable to connect instead of 2. There's really no difference besides that.