Quality ADAT Lightpipe cables (Glass)

SUGARCULT666 · 19th October 2006

Hey do you guys think these cables look like good quality? I want it to hook up my Mytek 8x96 to my 002 via lighpipe... I heard glass optical cables are better than plastic and even sound better?

http://www.atlona.com/product.php?pr...cat=293&page=1 ......... You can get these ones on ebay pretty cheap compared to the apogee ones anyway!

http://cgi.ebay.com/1m-3ft-ATLONA-HI...QQcmdZViewItem

Zwinter · 19th October 2006

Umm, the cables in the link you provided were in the same price range as the Apogee's. The only difference is that I know Apogee makes great optical cables.

Edit: Oops, I saw the price on the Atlona web site and miss the fact that they were significantly less money on Ebay. But I still believe that you are taking a chance with buying cables off of Ebay. Sure they could be amazing, but they could also be crap. At least with the Apogee's you know what you are getting, a great cable.

guinsu · 20th October 2006

The nice thing about digital is that it either works or not. If the cable is dropping bits, you will hear a drastic change in the sound, its not like analog where the bass gets weak or the highs are attenuated. Anything else you hear is propaganda from the likes of Monster Cable. Think of it this way, the cable connecting your hard drive to your computer costs less than $2 and needs to transfer every bit exactly perfect, unlike with audio there is no wiggle room with data. Your computer would crash and burn and the OS would be corrupt otherwise.

rufus13 · 20th October 2006

Glass cables are low-loss. This doesn't matter for a few meters, but if you want to run ADAT for 100M it definately would matter.

There's a minimum quality level required, even for plastic connectors, to work. You should be able to spot bad cuts, bad insertion, bad end polish on the very cheapest cables. Test equipment to quantify optical cable quality is not yet cheap (knocked off by our favorite far-east mfg.).

Karl

19th October 2006	#1
SUGARCULT666 Gear addict Joined: May 2006 Location: Sydney/Perth Australia Posts: 356 Thread Starter	Quality ADAT Lightpipe cables (Glass) Hey do you guys think these cables look like good quality? I want it to hook up my Mytek 8x96 to my 002 via lighpipe... I heard glass optical cables are better than plastic and even sound better? http://www.atlona.com/product.php?pr...cat=293&page=1 ......... You can get these ones on ebay pretty cheap compared to the apogee ones anyway! http://cgi.ebay.com/1m-3ft-ATLONA-HI...QQcmdZViewItem __________________ www.myspace.com/thedirtysecrets

19th October 2006	#2
Zwinter Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2005 Location: Boston Posts: 639	Umm, the cables in the link you provided were in the same price range as the Apogee's. The only difference is that I know Apogee makes great optical cables. Edit: Oops, I saw the price on the Atlona web site and miss the fact that they were significantly less money on Ebay. But I still believe that you are taking a chance with buying cables off of Ebay. Sure they could be amazing, but they could also be crap. At least with the Apogee's you know what you are getting, a great cable. __________________ Zach Winterfeld Chariots of Fire, "you can't put in what God's left out" "It is slightly illegal, but who the f@*k cares at this point."

20th October 2006	#4
rufus13 Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2005 Location: Interstate-5, North of Grant's Pass Posts: 700	glass vs. plastic ADAT link Glass cables are low-loss. This doesn't matter for a few meters, but if you want to run ADAT for 100M it definately would matter. There's a minimum quality level required, even for plastic connectors, to work. You should be able to spot bad cuts, bad insertion, bad end polish on the very cheapest cables. Test equipment to quantify optical cable quality is not yet cheap (knocked off by our favorite far-east mfg.). Karl

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20th October 2006	#3
guinsu Gear interested Joined: Mar 2005 Location: Wilmington, DE Posts: 29	The nice thing about digital is that it either works or not. If the cable is dropping bits, you will hear a drastic change in the sound, its not like analog where the bass gets weak or the highs are attenuated. Anything else you hear is propaganda from the likes of Monster Cable. Think of it this way, the cable connecting your hard drive to your computer costs less than $2 and needs to transfer every bit exactly perfect, unlike with audio there is no wiggle room with data. Your computer would crash and burn and the OS would be corrupt otherwise.