Digital Audio Out Audiophile Newbie pt. 3

It really depends in what context we are talking about to
answer your questions.

IMHO:

"What do you guys think of digital audio out
(optical/coax)?" I think very highly of it.

"Do you find that it diminishes audio quality? No

"Given only the choice between digital optical, and
digital coax, which would you choose?" Coax

I guess I'm talking about home-theater disc-players that have digital out. Like Oppo or Sony.

It is system dependent. In some cases optical (Toslink) can be better. Coax should be either very short (less then 1ft) or at least 1.5m

Optical always trips and throws errors.

Coax is typically better than must optical
Optical to me always sounds rolled off at the top end
Alan

You have to get good cables in both cases.

For optical I use DH labs - it's about the fasted out there (150 mbs) and I found it outperformed a higher priced cable from Chord

For digital coax with RCA plugs the RCA's have to match the impedance of the cable otherwise transmision is affected.

I've used Van den Hul coax cables and they perform very well.

No idea about XLR - so can offer no opinion

With good cables I have not found any difference in performance

I'll qualify my comments with - I've only tested coax up to 16/48 kHz - but have tested optical up to 24/96 kHz

I currently stream 24/192 via USB (asynch) from imac to Schiit Bofrost DAC.

Regards