AudioQuest Diamond TosLink Optilink Cable
A revolution in fiber optic cable design, Diamond Optilink uses several highly polished quartz fibers instead of plastic conductors for the ultimate in digital connectivity. Unlike plastic, quartz fibers are vastly more transparent allowing more light (information) to flow which gives Diamond Optilink greater resolution and improved tonality!
The result is a knock-out musical experience; no coax cable can compete with Optilink Diamond's purity of tone, lack of mechanical noise or incredibly black backgrounds.
Diamond Optilink preserves TosLink's great strengths of vanishingly low noise and zero mechanical noise, but offers something other TosLink cables can't... dynamic range! Compared to standard TosLink cables, the Optilink is a revelation, with surprising transient performance and excellent dynamic gradations. Diamond Optilink even outperforms similarly priced coaxial digital cables, with a smoother, purer, more natural tonal palette and surprisingly deep black backgrounds.
TosLink is often maligned as a low-performance digital interface, but TosLink actually offers state-of-the-art S/PDIF resolution with several key advantages over "metal conductor" digital cables, such as galvanic isolation and electrical isolation. TosLink is also impervious to RF interference and ground loop hums, plus there's no break-in period!
Much of the bad feeling towards TosLink is due to the predominant use of garbage TosLink cables, usually freebies. TosLink is an optical transmission protocol, which means that a flashing LED at the send end is read by a receiver on the other end. TosLink cables make the link between the two components.
The sharper and clearer each flash is transmitted, the easier it is for the receiving end to read. Generic TosLink cables use the cheapest possible plastic fibers, which are the equivalent of looking through a filthy window. The cable smears the information so much that the receiving end has to "guess" what the signal is.
High quality TosLink cables preserve more of that information and Diamond Optilink's quartz conductors preserve as much of the signal as possible for optimal transmission characteristics. Give Diamond Optilink a try, we think you'll agree with us that this is a fantastic cable.
