Optical Cable in Car Audio

[///M5 2,833]

Um, OMG, what a mess.

It isn't that big of deal, it gains you absolutely nothing in a car over a standard digital signal, and isn't even that expensive. They've even moved away from it in home audio for the same reasons. HDMI (non-optical) sounds the same as a fiber optic cable and doesn't have the inherent disadvantages of being glass.

[NDMstang65 403]

alpine h701 has been around for years and uses an optical input coming from the headunit..

that thing defines the term pain in the ass and unreliable though

[Sencheezy 689]

Um, OMG, what a mess.

It isn't that big of deal, it gains you absolutely nothing in a car over a standard digital signal, and isn't even that expensive. They've even moved away from it in home audio for the same reasons. HDMI (non-optical) sounds the same as a fiber optic cable and doesn't have the inherent disadvantages of being glass.

Sorry sean, didn't mean to make you upset, was just wondering why or why hasn't it been done before, I suppose your input helped.

alpine h701 has been around for years and uses an optical input coming from the headunit..

that thing defines the term pain in the ass and unreliable though

haha, ok, will steer clear of that one.

[///M5 2,833]

Sorry sean, didn't mean to make you upset, was just wondering why or why hasn't it been done before, I suppose your input helped.

You didn't. The abstract responses and direction your thread got taken was what confused me.

[Impious 1,476]

I honestly haven't read most of the posts in this thread, but optical as a means of signal transmission has been done plenty of times in car audio. Alpine H701, Sony CDX-90 & associated processor (this one going back to the mid 90's if not earlier), Pioneer ODR system (again, going back to the 90's), etc etc etc. I used the Alpine DVA-9860 via toslink connected to the H701 for several years in my car. Never had a single problem with either the cable or the unit. I would have to disagree with Nick, certainly any product is going to have it's issues but generally the H701 is a reliable, affordable (used) processor with a lot of tuning power. Sure you can find a lot of threads of people with issues on the forums, but given how many units are out there it's not surprising. The H700/701 was probably in production close to 10 years. If you get the non-glass cable & don't bend it at 90 degree angles the cable itself is not a problem.

But as Sean said; it's one of many digital signal transfer methods and there really isn't going to be an audible benefit to any one over the others.

[Sencheezy 689]

I honestly haven't read most of the posts in this thread, but optical as a means of signal transmission has been done plenty of times in car audio. Alpine H701, Sony CDX-90 & associated processor (this one going back to the mid 90's if not earlier), Pioneer ODR system (again, going back to the 90's), etc etc etc. I used the Alpine DVA-9860 via toslink connected to the H701 for several years in my car. Never had a single problem with either the cable or the unit. I would have to disagree with Nick, certainly any product is going to have it's issues but generally the H701 is a reliable, affordable (used) processor with a lot of tuning power. Sure you can find a lot of threads of people with issues on the forums, but given how many units are out there it's not surprising. The H700/701 was probably in production close to 10 years. If you get the non-glass cable & don't bend it at 90 degree angles the cable itself is not a problem.

But as Sean said; it's one of many digital signal transfer methods and there really isn't going to be an audible benefit to any one over the others.

Well thanks for that info Brad! Wow, very interesting, so it has been done before, thats cool. Yeah I guess it was really a successful technique in the Car Audio world since I haven't really seen it around before. To me, at first, I thought it would be nice to clear up all of that clutter, the footprint that multiple RCAs have on any given install. Which was my main interest in the technology.

[Heartdisease 0]

They have come out with it again. The Alpine PXA-H800. I am thinking about getting one right now.

http://www.crutchfie...e-PXA-H800.html

Incidentally it does have at least one advantage. No ground loops, no inductive noise.

As far as optical goes all i-pads have a toslink/3.5mm hybrid connector. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSLINK

People have been using that for years now to get a clean signal to high end amps.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Heartdisease