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No minimum length for Toslink

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Posted on March 27, 2017 at 10:18:30
mr.bear
Audiophile

Posts: 4167
Joined: November 13, 2001
In recent correspondence with the fine folks at Lifatech regarding application of their glass fiber Toslink cabling, the following arose, you may want to file it away for future reference:

"I am not aware of any minimum length for Toslink. We have made some in the ~6" range for connections between portable devices. The only risk there is bending the cable too tightly right at the connectors which could potentially break fibers, however short of physical damage I did not have anyone report degraded sound quality with a cable that size."

These guys seem to know everything there is about engineering optical fiber cable.

 

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RE: No minimum length for Toslink, posted on March 28, 2017 at 08:58:41
Duster
Manufacturer

Posts: 17117
Location: Pacific Northwest
Joined: August 25, 2002
No minimum length, but there is a maximum length that requires an active Toslink repeater along with another Toslink cable in order to successfully transmit data. A maximum length Toslink interface is cable dependent since some designs do not perform at the same distances as others, IME.

 

And, According to Lifatec, No Optimal Length for TOSLINK Either, posted on March 29, 2017 at 08:56:19
Jim Hodgson
Audiophile

Posts: 399
Location: New York City
Joined: March 9, 2006
From my own e-mail correspondence with Lifatec:

As to length, we consider optimal to be whatever the maximum distance is between your components, plus an extra foot or so to enable you to move things around freely without stressing the cable. There are some folks out there who insist on certain lengths being ideal for sound quality, however their results are all extremely subjective and provide no technical data to back them up. We do not endorse these types of conclusions.

 

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