Are "high quality" Toslink optical audio cables worth it?

Masqued Man

I know this has probably been discussed before, but when I used the search function, and not much relevant info showed up. I was wondering if getting a "quality" brand optical Toslink cables is really worth it. I've heard the claim, "it's digital, so either it's zero or it's one," thus all that matters is if the signal reaches the amp, or not, however, that was in reference to HDMI, which uses copper circuitry. Toslink uses fiber optics, which sounds like it requires more precision. Besides, I read this:

"The Myth that a Digital signal is either there or its not is just that a Myth.
Own a cell phone or Digital house phone its gets interference all the time. and its Digital. Digital requires alot of information to be passed from point a to b and if 1 bit doesn't make it you can drop a call or loose an image. " (source URL: http://www.ceqna.com/home-theater/2868-home-theater-1.html.)

This make sense, since even if "either it reaches the amp, or it doesn't," is true, well, what if it doesn't reach the amp? Or it does, but reaches the amp, plays, for a few seconds, only to get cut off due to a distortion in the fiber optic signal, and stop playing for a few seconds, then play a few seconds more until another distortion occurs, etc.

Once again, I'm sorry if this has been posted already. I tried searching the internet for similar discussions, but the url I referenced is pretty much the only thing I found. (All other discussions of Monster cables, etc, focused specifically on Component and HDMI, only briefly mentioning Optical audio without an in-depth discussion of the worth of getting "high quality" optical cables.

Raere

No. Toslink is optical, which means it uses light to transmit the bits. Digital signals can't get distorted as it is. A bit is either there, or it isn't. There isn't an in-between (unless you're passing quantum qubits over cables) If the cable doesn't have any shielding or something, you could potentially get some packet loss with long lengths. If you're running say, a 6ft cable, you could do fine without any shielding at all. That's with regular cables. What distorts light? Not much. Unless you have a black hole in your room, you can run the cheapest toslink cable all around and not have any problem. That's why they're usually so thin compared to other cables.

Also, all the expensive digital cables? You're paying tons of extra money for better shielding, and more sturdy connectors. A home theater will not have cables running through a gigantic electromagnet while experiencing a constant 9.5 earthquake. Yeah, that's what a high-end Monster cable might protect against with their digital cables.

victor_c26

^ What he said.

A big fat no.