Toslink & SPDIF

Toslink Optical Cable Assemblies, Toslink Adapters, Toslink Splitters, Toslink Switches, Toslink Connectors

Buy Online

Digital Audio Cables: Toslink and RCA (SPDIF - AC3) for Home Theater Systems, Computers, Mini Disk and MP3 Recorders

What is a Toslink Audio Cable?

There are 3 types of cables that are used for connecting Digital Audio

1. Coaxial RCA cable assemblies are the most popular digital audio cabling products. Cable and connectors are 75 ohm impedance and used to connect DVD players, CDs (Compact Disks) and some DAT recorders to multichannel surround sound (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc) equipment.
2. Toslink is a fiber optic version of the coaxial digital audio connection and is used in the same applications as coax. Most newer equipment has a Toslink connection. In applications where the source or receiver has only coaxial connections the signal can be converted to Toslink using a converter box.
3. 3.5mm (1/8") Digital Audio connections come in both coax and fiber optic versions as well. These are used on small devices where space is very limited. The electrical version can be simply adapted to the RCA connection, but would require a conversion box to interface with Toslink optical connections. The optical version, called "mini Toslink" can be similarly easily adapted to Toslink, but will require a conversion box to connect to the electrical version, either RCA or 3.5mm connections.

Toslink fiber optic digital audio cables carry Digital audio data in the form of light pulses, rather than using electricity, eliminating the distortions caused by inductance, capacitance and resistance of wire cables.

Digital Audio inputs and/or outputs are available on many newer Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1, 6.1, AC3, Prologic, etc) and DTS surround sound receivers, DVD players, CD players, minidisk players and recorders, MP3 and DAT recorders, professional Audio Cards for Computer Digital Audio workstations, Outboard AD/DA Converters and satellite dish receivers. Compatible with SPDIF, ADAT, DAW and Dolby Digital DTS audio devices using the Toslink interface.

Toslink Connectors
There are 2 sizes of connectors:

1. Toslink connectors are used on DVD's, CD and Super audio CD players, and surround sound receivers.
2. 3.5mm "mini" plug Toslink connectors are generally used for mini disks, and other small digital audio devices.

RCA connections are replaced by BNC connections on some high end equipment.

Please visit our On-Line Store for:

• Toslink Cable Assemblies
• Toslink splitters
• Toslink switches
• Toslink connectors
• Toslink adapters
• SPDIF Cables, Toslink RCA

If you need to buy in quantity, please fill our Request a Quote form. We have very competitive prices for quality products.