Cables for digital audio. (Part 2)
Coaxial cable
• What are you doing? Digital coaxial cable resembles standard analog RCA cables, however standard audio connections should be avoided to carry coaxial digital signals. This type of cable is specially designed for the transmission of digital signals and offers an impedance of approximately 75 ohms, a wider frequency range and a superior signal transmission. Like the optical, it also supports surround sound and can only stream 5.1ch audio. The sound quality transmitted by coaxial and optical cables is roughly the same, although many lovers of pure sound prefer coaxial cable for connecting high-performance components.
• When to use it? Digital coaxial cable, along with optical, ranks second after HDMI. Although coaxial connections are not used as often as optical connections, they are still a great way to get surround sound from your DVD player or cable TV to your receiver.
• What should I pay attention to? When looking at the specs, make sure the cable has an impedance of 75 Ω. A copper braid is also needed, not aluminum, as it conducts the signal better and provides higher performance, and is safer for you according to http://www.medkrug.ru.
Analog audio connection
Most people are not familiar with this type of connection. You’ll typically see a simple red and white stereo connection with two channels, although some components offer XLR and multi-channel analog connections.
• What does XLR do? This type of connection is used primarily with professional audio equipment that requires “balanced” audio. The connector has three pins: one for the positive conductor, one for the negative conductor, and the last one for the ground or shield connection. When the amplifier receives signals from an XLR cable, it compares the signals received from each source and rejects any differences that indicate interference. Therefore, the XLR is less sensitive to external noise sources and is optimal for situations where exceptional sound quality is required over long distances. XLR connections are used primarily for analog audio audio, but digital XLR cables are also available.
• When to use it? XLR is suitable for high-performance home audio broadcasts, such as compatible preamps and power amplifiers that have XLR connectors. They are commonly found in professional audio equipment, especially microphones, that require “phantom power” – an electrical charge passes through a grounded wire and activates the internal microphone preamps.
• What should I pay attention to? Choose insulated cables to prevent unwanted signals from interfering. It is also important that the cables are well shielded to avoid interference. And conductors with copper, gold or silver centers will provide the best signal transmission.
• What are you doing? The multichannel analog audio cable uses six to eight RCA cables to carry a full 5-7 channels and one channel of low-frequency audio.
• When to use it? If you don’t have an HDMI-compatible receiver, this may be your only option for high-definition Blu-ray surround sound. This setup uses the player’s internal surround decoder and outputs the signal similar to a Home Theater compatible player. Multi-channel outputs can be found on DVD players.
• What should you pay attention to? Good sound quality requires a copper center conductor, double or triple shielding, and a gold-plated high-pressure RCA connector.
• What are you doing? This is the most basic audio connection. Two channel analog audio cables carry two channels of stereo sound. The cable is usually packaged with audio components, and these are generally made of inexpensive materials: two unshielded audio cables with red and white RCA plugs on each end.
• When to use it? This is the most common type of cable for making stereo audio connections between home theater components.
• What should you pay attention to? Choose cables with a copper center conductor, double or triple shielding, and gold-plated RCA plugs.
