Audio Optic
Audio Optic
Benefits of digital audio cable
Today the definition of audio experience has undergone sea change and it is the advent of digital audio cable which has helped transformation. Emphasis is on the distortion free signal transfer which can reproduce sounds in great detail. It is the difference between good sound and great sound which is more central to high-end audio experience. Outperforming the analog cable used in the past, digital cable has become the part and parcel of home theatre systems installed in homes and offices.
So, is it watching a World cup tournament or a 3D movie, your sound system equipped with a digital audio cable can bring your living room to life? The most frequently used variant is fiber optic digital audio cable. The sound output depends on the quality of cable through which the digital signal passes. The more the sound signal suffers loss or interference, the lower the sound output is. Digital cable ensures better sounds by eliminating the chances of this sound loss and interference. No matter how large your speakers are, you cannot enjoy optimum sound without relying on the right digital audio cable. Crystal Clear sound output comes only when the sound signal transmitting cable is resistant to outside disturbances.
Fiber-optic digital audio cables allow users to connect an audio source such as CD players or computers or even an iPod or any other console-based device, with a receiver system and the cable transmits the audio signals in a compressed format. For small distance transmission, this cable is ideal because it can very effectively minimize the chances of radio frequency interference. In addition, fiber optic digital audio cable does not use electricity for transmitting digital data and therefore, the chances of interference arising from electricity flow are also very minimal.
Digital audio cables are very easy to use. If you are interested in wireless transmission, you need to have specific software downloaded to ensure the computer or the source can auto-detect the digital signals. But when you use fiber optic digital audio cables like in a home theater set up, you just need to join one end of the cable to the source connector port usually rectangular in shape.
Install any driver or support software as per the manufacturer's instructions. This allows computer and console-based fiber-optic digital signals to be auto-detected upon installation. This step is not necessary when using fiber-optic-enabled digital receivers or stereo systems, for example in a home-theater setup, as they are specifically designed for fiber-optic digital and require no software to auto-detect. The other end of the cable can be plugged into the TOSLINK connector.
Some of the best digital audio cables are AmazonBasixs Toshlink, Monoprice Premium 6FT, Monster THXI100 FO4NF THX, Mediabridge Toshlink BetterCables 2M Premium etc. The price of these digital audio cables can be anything between $6 and $50. Using these cables in your music console can offer you rich audio experience.
About the Author
Vin Cent has been writing many articles and blogs online related to Digital Audio Cable and Audio Cables
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Audio Optic
Top 5 Great Optical Audio Cable for 2011
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SIIG Fiber Optic Audio Cable $16.99 1 x Toslink Male Audio 118" Audio Cable CB-TS0212-S1 Fiber Optic Fiber Optic Audio Cable Gold-Plated Connectors Lifetime Not Applicable PVC RoHS SIIG SIIG, Inc Toslink Yes www.siig.com |
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Accell UltraAudio Fiber Optic Digital Audio Cable $36.99 1 x Toslink Male 35 ft Spring strain relief Connectors with super-polished end-face for optimal coupling and crisp, clear digital sound (UL) CL2 Accell Accell Corporation Audio Cable Fiber Optic Toslink UltraAudio UltraAudio Fiber Optic Digital Audio Cable UltraFlex b036c-035b-42 www.accellcables.com |
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Accell UltraAudio Fiber Optic Digital Audio Cable - 1 x Toslink - 1 x Toslink - 50.03ft $48.2 ACCELL ULTRA AUDIO OPTIC TOSLINK CABLE 50FT |
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Accell UltraAudio Fiber Optic Digital Audio Cable - 1 x Toslink Male - 1 x Toslink Male - 35ft $36.81 ACCELL ULTRA AUDIO OPTIC TOSLINK CABLE 35FT |
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Ultralink CS1DT-0.5M Fiber Optic Audio Cable - 19.69" $9.99 19.69" Audio Cable Bulk CS1DT-0.5M CS1DT-0.5M Fibre Optic Cable Fiber Optic Molded Toslink Toslink Digital Audio Toslink Digital Audio Ultralink Ultralink Products, Inc www.ultralinkcables.com |
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SIIG CB-TS0312-A1 Fiber Optic Audio Cable - 16.40 ft $219.99 16.40 ft 5 Audio Cable CB-TS0312-A1 CB-TS0312-A1 Fiber Optic Audio Cable Fiber Optic Mini-Toslink Mini-Toslink Male Digital Audio Not Applicable SIIG SIIG, Inc www.siig.com |
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Monster 33' Fiber Optic 600 Audio Cable - Silver $59.99 This fiber optic audio cable delivers accurate bitstream transfer for use in a variety of audio applications. The satin finish provides both style and durability. |
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Ultralink CS1DT-1.5M Fiber Optic Audio Cable - 59" $14.99 1 x Toslink Male Digital Audio 59" Audio Cable Bulk CS1 CS1DT-1.5M Digital Optical Audio Cable CS1DT-1.5M Fiber Optic Molded Not Applicable PVC Toslink Ultralink Ultralink Products, Inc www.ultralinkcables.com |
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Belkin AV10033-06-WHT Fiber Optic Audio Cable - 72" - White $41.99 72" AV10033-06-WHT AV10033-06-WHT Pro AV 700 Digital Audio Cable Audio Cable Belkin Belkin International, Inc Fiber Optic Lifetime Not Applicable Toslink Toslink Digital Audio White www.belkin.com |
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Fiber Optic 400dfo 20ft $59.99 MONSTER CABLE MC 400DFO-20 FIBER OPTIC 400 ADVANCED PERFORMANCE AUDIO CABLES (MODEL NO. MC 400DFO-20; 20 FT) |
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Steren Component Video/Toslink Fiber Optic Digital Audio Cable 253103IV $23.87 Red green and blue color coding. Fiber optic digital audio cable. 24k goldplated connectors. 3 . High quality components. Satisfaction ensured. |
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Hosa GOP-490 Fiber Optic Adaptor $3.99 Audio Adapter GOP-490 GOP-490 Fiber Optic Adaptor Hosa Hosa Technology, Inc Mini-Toslink Mini-Toslink Audio Toslink Toslink Audio www.hosatech.com |
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Monster Cable MC 400DFO-4M Fiber Optic Audio Cable - Toslink Male Audio - 13.12ft $39.93 MC 400DFO-4M 4 M. FIBER OPTIC CABLE |
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Fiber Optic 400dfo Cbl 1m $32.99 MONSTER CABLE MC 400DFO-1M FIBER OPTIC 400 ADVANCED-PERFORMANCE AUDIO CABLES (MODEL NO. MC 400DFO-1M; 1 M) |
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Fiber Optic 400dfo Cbl 4m $48.99 MONSTER CABLE MC 400DFO-4M FIBER OPTIC 400 ADVANCED PERFORMANCE AUDIO CABLES (MODEL NO. MC 400DFO-4M; 4 M) |
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Fiber Optic 400dfo Cbl 2m $40.99 MONSTER CABLE MC 400DFO-2M FIBER OPTIC 400 ADVANCED PERFORMANCE AUDIO CABLES (MODEL NO. MC 400DFO-2M; 2 M) |
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2m 600dfo Fbr Optic Cbl $59.99 MONSTER CABLE MC 600DFO-2M FIBER OPTIC 600 HIGH PERFORMANCE AUDIO CABLES (MODEL NO. MC 600DFO-2M; 2 M) |
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1m 600dfo Fbr Optic Cbl $48.99 MONSTER CABLE MC 600DFO-1M FIBER OPTIC 600 HIGH-PERFORMANCE AUDIO CABLES (MODEL NO. MC 600DFO-1M; 1 M) |
The 50th Anniversary of the Optical Disc
The 50th Anniversary of the Optical Disc.
From the “Laser Disc” to “Blu-ray”
History of the Optical Disc
In 1958, 50 years ago, David Paul Gregg invented the first optical disc using a transparent disc technology. The disc is 30 centimeters in diameter and uses an analog format and laser technology. It is therefore also called a “Laser Disc” He patented his design in 1961.
A later development of the Optical Disc were patented in 1969.
In 1967, David Paul Gregg's company, Gaus Electrophysics, contacted Royal Philips Electronics, but was met with disinterest.
The laser disc player sold only about one million units in the United States and approximately four million in Japan and the last LD released in Japan was the “Tokyo Raiders” in 2001.
Laser Disc Museum gives some interesting history of the Laser Disc. See the link below:
http://laserdiscplanet.com/museum.html
One of the influential contributors to Audio, Video and Data recording, is Kees Immink.
Dr. Kees A. Schouhamer Immink was born on December 18, 1946 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He Joined Philips research laboratories in 1971.
His contribution to the technology of digital audio and video has enabled all of us to listen to audio and watch video on reliable, high quality media. Dr. Immink's coding methods are essential to CD's and DVD's. For a full biography about Kees Immink see the website:
http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/immink.html
The Compact Disc (CD)
The Optical VideoDisc, although a major development to be used in later research, was not a great success. I recently talked to a number of people about the Optical Video disc, but they had never heard of it.
The Sony/Philips team was not idle, and building on some of the laser disc technologies, they set out to develop a new digital audio disc; in contrast to the earlier OpticalDisc, which had an analog format.
In 1979, they set up a task force of engineers led by the prominent Kees Immink and in 1980, the group produced a Compact Disc (CD) Standard, called the Red Book.
Compact Disc format
The CD uses a red laser to scan the patterns of bumps on a mirrored surface which are interpreted as bits. These bits can be assembled into bytes. A CD can hold about 700 megabytes of information or about 80 minutes of music.
The Red Book gives detailed information on the design of the compact disc and was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony.
It was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc Committee and ratified as IEC 908.
The development of the CD was the combined work of a large number of scientists working as a team. The Compact Disc Story, written by Kees A. Schouhamer Immink provides a lot of background information. See the weblink below for the full story.
http://www.exp-math.uni-essen.de/~immink/pdf/cdstory.htm
The CD, available on the market since late 1982, remains the standard playback medium for commercial audio recordings to the present day. Various formats of the CD were later developed. Some of the common formats are:
1. Audio files CD
2. Data storage CD-ROM
3. Write-once audio and data storage CD-R
4. Rewritable media CD-RW
By 2007 200 billion CDs had been sold world wide.
Search for a new way to play video movies and “super density” data storage.
The time was ready for a new way to play Videos and provide a higher capacity disk to store data and programs. Cd's were rapidly replacing the audio tapes and the VHS was coming to an end. Data often had to be stored on multiple discs.
Two teams set to work to produce a video disk to replace the VHS tape; the Philips and Sony team and Toshiba.
Philips and Sony started the Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD) and Toshiba the Super Density Disc. Notice the emphasis on each of these, “Multi Media” and “Super Density”. Of course both of these had both the video and data capabilities in mind.
Multi Media Compact Disc (MMCD) 1990s Philips and Sony
The MMCD was designed as a single sided compact disc, with a single or dual layer. The capacity for a single layer is 3,7GB , compared with 7.4GB for the dual layer. It is backward compatible with the CD and CDROM. It did not become a standard.
Super Density Disc (SD) 1990s Toshiba
The Super Density Disc (SD) was adopted as the standard format, with an addition of to two options, proposed by the Philis/Sony team. For more information see the section on the DVD below.
DVD
With the two competing options, one offered by Sony/Philips and the other by Toshiba, we seemed to be on the brink of another format war. It looked like a repeat of the format battle of the 1980s when the Sony Betamax was battling it out with the “Video Home System” VHS standards, at the expense of the consumer. What does the consumer buy? In my opinion the Betamax was a better option, but the consumer market decided, and the victory went to VHS.
But the impeding battle did not take place Through the with mediation of Lou Gerstner, president of IBM a compromise was reached.
The Sony and Philips MMCD format was abandoned and the Toshiba SD format adopted, with these two additions:
the pit geometry which allows push-pull tracking, a proprietary technology of Philips and Sony, and the EFMPlus, created by Kees immink. The EFMPlus encoder is based on a deterministic finite state machine, having four states, which translates 8-bit input words into 16-bit codewords.
This compromise created the DVD format, which became the standard format in December 1995 and will continue as such until the majority of people will no longer be satisfied with “standard video” but demands high density video for all there movies. Than the new Blu-ray format will take over.
DVD format
The DVD uses a red laser to scan the patterns of bumps on a mirrored surface, which are interpreted as bits. These bits can be assembled into bytes jus as on a CD. However the bumps and tracks on a DVD are much smaller and can therefore hold significantly more information, up to 4.7GB.
Professional Disc for Data (PDD)
With the decision made in favor of the Toshiba, Super Density Disc and the abandonment of the Multi Media Compact Disc (MMCD) as the main technology for the DVD, Sony set out to design a disc they called Professional Disc for Data (PDD). The need for a higher capacity disc for the upcoming high density television systems was a certainty.
Sony introduced the PDD in 2003 and it became available in 2004. This new format utilized the 405nm (Nana meter), BLU-violet laser for reading and writing to the disc, allowing for a much higher data storage than the red laser used in the DVD. The capacity of the disc was 23GB compared with 4.5GB for a single layer DVD.
The PDD format was very short lived and was discontinued in 2007. This made way for the next generation of optical media for the Philips/Sony team, the Blu-ray.
Blu-Ray
Blu-ray technology was developed jointly by Sony & Philips, along with an extensive board of directors.
Apple, Inc. Dell HP Hitachi LG Mitsubishi Electric Panasonic Pioneer Philips Samsung Sharp Sony
Sun Microsystems TDK Thomson Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney Warner Bros.
Blu-ray uses a 405nm wavelength blue-violet laser and has a tight track pitch of 0.85
The surface layer is 0.1mm-thick, which enables the laser to focus at the 0.85 aperture.
The disc uses a hard polymer coating called Durabis, which was developed by TDK and is supposedly? extremely resilient and fingerprint resistant.
The Java platform, which is used for menus and multimedia, is mandatory. Blu-ray systems must support JVM.
Capacity
Rom Single Layer 25GB
Rom Dual Layer 50GB
RW Single Layer 27GB
RW Dual Layer 54GB
Highest Test 100GB
Theoretical Limit 200GB
HD DVD
Toshiba
Rom Single Layer 15GB
Rom Dual Layer 30GB
Highest Test 45GB
Theoretical Limit 60GB
Abandoned February 19 2008
©Copyright Jacob Romeyn
About the Author
Radio Microwave engineer for 25 years, instructor in radio microwave engineering, computer technology 20 years.
I have been involved in online learning for 20 years and the 2nd user of the Moodle program.
Audio Optic