Friday, 8 July 2011

Optical Cables - Developing For The Past Decades

By Tyluroe Duhregen


Optical cables, sometimes called TOSLINK, are optical fiber cables which are commonly used for audio equipment nowadays. Digital optical sockets in home theater setups and other audio electronics utilize such cables to carry audio signals to each other. These cables enables digital audio to be streamed from the source to the output hardware, enabling users to experience high quality and uncompressed digital audio.

These days, S/PDIF standards are quite common for such audio streams. Home theater systems, BluRay players and even gaming consoles typically have such interface. These things let users actually stream music and audio straight from their gadgets to decoders, so people can enjoy full DTS or Dolby Digital sounds right at home. High fidelity audio streaming is then made possible with such cables because of their speeds.

When optical cables were introduced in 1983, they were only capable of achieving speeds of 3.1 Mbit per second. However, these days, such cables can now reach bandwidths of up to 125 Mbit per second, obviously showing the fast development of these fiber optics for the past years.

Homes with home theaters generally use these cables alongside HDMI cables. Running from the source to their decoders, it then decodes the light signals and transfers them to the speakers. Originally designed to support 48KHz at 20-bit, this technology has quite developed for the past few years. These days, digital audio can support every audio format, including Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound technologies.

There are many manufacturers of optical cables nowadays. Optical fibers are coated with resin, and then a plastic jacket to reinforce its strength. These layers do not interfere with the fiber optics, as they only protect the cable itself. Generally, fibers inside are made of thin and transparent plastic or glass. Such cables transmit light which is then encoded or decoded into audio streams. Each end of the cables have connectors which go in optical audio ports found in players and encoders.

Some computers nowadays have optical audio outputs so users can stream audio to their encoders and be heard in 5.1 or 7.1 sound systems. This enables home theaters to surface, with easy setup and installation for surround sound systems. Audio cards and even external sound processors can easily hook up to computers, effectively upgrading your rig's sound system to be able to stream high fidelity audio.

With the right cables and equipment, you can surely then enjoy exceptional audio right in the comforts of your home.




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