What is a Toslink Cable – Optical Digital Audio Cable?
Toslink cable, also know as an optical cable is used for linking components like surround sound home theater systems to a HDTV or HD cable box. A standard in digital video and audio is PCM, pulse code modulation and Toslink was invented by Toshiba is the early 1980’s to connect their recievers and CD players to receive the PCM bitstream. It became a common connector for most manufacturers. Fiber optic materials Quartz glass optical fibers may be used, but most likely your cable will be made with either quality multistrand plastic optical fibers or cheaper 1mm plastic optical fiber. Toslink cables can run up to 10 meters in length, but are typically 5 meters or less. Anything longer than 10 meters and it is likely that a signal booster will be needed. Newer consumer electronics, however, can have Toslink cables that will run 100 feet or more. As audio cables go, the toslink cable has become very popular and you can find them at varying prices through many different manufacturers. Digita
