“What is the difference between this fiber optic cable, compared to cheaper fiber optic cables and how much of a difference would there be in sound quality?”
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The AudioQuest - Carbon Optical Toslink Cable has, "19 Narrow-Aperture Highest-Purity Synthetic Fibers," as stated in the Specifications section. Cheaper fiber optic cables, including the lower priced cables sold by AudioQuest, are a single large fiber. There is a significant difference in sound quality between the lower priced cables and the Carbon cable. Wether the audio/video system it will be attached to, and your own biological auditory system allows or enables you to hear that difference, and wether the cost is worth it to you, is what you need to determine. I needed a toslink cable to listen to the stereo signal broadcast from my TV through my 2 channel stereo receiver that has only RCA inputs. My TV has only an optical output, requiring a toslink cable attached to a DAC between the TV and receiver. The toslink cable between the TV and DAC, and RCA cables between the DAC and receiver. I started with a generic $30 DAC and a generic toslink cable. It sounded terrible, a harsh digital sound. I bought a $179 DAC, and an AudioQuest Pearl toslink cable. It was a huge improvement, but the cable did not provide the reveling, musical quality I wanted. I bought an AudioQuest Cinnamon cable. It had the revealing quality I sought. You could hear individual instruments being played in an orchestra. With Bluegrass, you could hear the individual notes plucked from the strings. Unfortunately, it did not provide the musical quality I sought. I bought an open box AudioQuest Carbon cable from Best Buy, and obtained exactly the sound I wanted. Even more revealing than the Cinnamon cable, while providing a musical quality that I can listen to for hours without fatigue.
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