50 Foot Toslink Cable Review (from Monoprice)

I have been in need of a toslink or digital coaxial cable for some time now. I bought a toslink cable so I wouldn’t have to buy an adapter (although I’ve heard that digital coaxial cable carries a more robust signal and performs better over long runs).

I didn’t feel like I was taking much of a risk, however, even though reputable, knowledgeable cable dealers had told me that optical cables (like toslink) may begin to have difficulties transmitting a full digital signal beyond about 30 feet. Why wasn’t I worried? I wasn’t worried because of the many glowing reviews this particular toslink cable has received from customers who already own it. I also wasn’t overly concerned because this cable (50 feet long, 8mm jacket) cost only $12.24. Let me repeat that. This cable cost me twelve dollars and twenty-four cents. O.K., so I had to pay a little bit of shipping. No biggie. Even if the cable didn’t work and I used it as a dog leash, I would still be out less than $20.

So, I bought the cable from MonoPrice and waited. The checkout process was simple and easy (I like that). Pre-sale service from MonoPrice was very good. I asked a number of questions through their online chat and responses were always quick and accurate (very nice).

My beautiful new optical cable showed up after six days. That’s not too bad. I ordered it on a Tuesday and it showed up the following Monday.

I strung the cable through my attic, plugged it in and . . . nothing. No sound whatsoever. However, the fault was my own. My Denon’s optical inputs were turned off. I had to go into my amplifier’s settings and turn them on. I couldn’t find my manual and finally downloaded one from the Internet. After much reading I figured out how to turn the optical inputs on.

I surfed to Pandora, pushed play and . . . nothing. No sound. I screamed in frustration. I punched holes in my walls and beat my computer into powder. After that, I started playing with my Creative control panel (the audio control panel for my Creative sound card). There was a tab entitled SPI / DF (that’s the tab that controls the optical output) and everything inside was grayed out. In other words, I couldn’t activate the optical output. My toslink cable just sat there, looking very pretty and very useless.

Finally, I called Puget Systems (a custom computer builder in Seattle who sold me my computer) and their excellent customer support team bailed me out. Daniel let me know that in Windows 7, you must tell the system to use the optical out as the default speakers. In order to do that, you must navigate to the Control Panel, click the “Sound” icon, highlight “SPIDF Out” and click “set default.”

So, once I had figured out how to turn on my optical inputs on my Denon and how to activate an external source in Windows 7 . . . everyting worked! The sound is clear, bright and beautiful.

And since then, I’ve learned a few additional things. On the Creative control panel, on the SPI / DF tab, there’s a checkbox at the bottom which says “Play Stereo Mix using Digital Output.” To me, that didn’t mean much until I started experimenting with it. When it’s checked, I don’t have to set “SPIDF Out” as default on my Windows 7 sound control. What happens is that both the computer speakers and the living room speakers play simultaneously. That’s pretty cool if I’m want to hear music at both ends of the house. It’s also nice because I can just leave that checked all the time then it’s as simple as switching my Denon to the optical input. I don’t have to mess with my computer’s sound at all.

Well, enough of that. This post is supposed to be a review of my toslink cable. So, here’s the verdict.

Cons

  • Well, this isn’t much of a con, but the cable took six days to get to my house. That seemed like a long wait to me but it’s definitely not unreasonable.
  • The ends of the cable are pretty darn fat. If your toslink connection is recessed at all, you could be in trouble. It fits fine with my sound card and my amplifier. But I have a recessed input on the front of my amplifier for a game system (or other portable device). The toslink cable will not fit because the ends are so big.

Pros

  • It works. And there’s no signal loss, as far as I can tell. The sound is beautiful.
  • The 8mm jacket is really nice and thick. This cable feels like you could tow a car with it.
  • It’s pretty. Anyone who sees this cable thinks it cost me a lot more than $12.
  • The price. Where else can you find a $12 toslink cable that’s 50 feet long other than MonoPrice? That’s a really good question and I’m not sure there’s actually an answer.
  • The online sales support was very quick and accurate.

    • 3 Responses to “50 Foot Toslink Cable Review (from Monoprice)”

    1. Becky  on February 5th, 2010

      It must have been interesting using your Creative control panel after beating your computer into powder. I’m so glad the cable is working so beautifully for you. Long may it transmit.

    2. saliske  on February 6th, 2010

      I really need a good 50 ft. dog leash. Why didn’t I think of that? It’s cheaper than good quality rope!

    3. Mom  on February 6th, 2010

      I agree! :)


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