The spdif protocol is from the previous century so it surprises me that somehow HDMI is failing to offer the same quality. SPDIF is an audio protocol, HDMI is for video. Someone (Sound & Vision when they actually tested stuff?) showing that HDMI connection always had low level audio signal contamination, even if no video signal was present.

Context Explanation

It is a fact that spdif signal clock jitter on gear with both electrical and optical spdif interfaces is typically going to be a bit worse for the optical implementation as compared to electrical due to the fact that there is more electronics this signal must propagate through. The answer to the thread title: no, it's not true. Optical S/PDIF (toslink) is routinely used to transport standard Dolby/DTS 5.1 digital audio signals between players and receivers. And that's because Dolby/DTS 5.1 digital audio is not typically passed as PCM, it's passed as a lossy-encoded bitstream, which is converted in the AVR.

Insight Material

If you convert to 5.1 PCM in the source device, and try to ... Only 2 pins need connection to coaxial digital output,the spdif signal out & ground 1) 3.5mm 4 pole (trrs) plug to rca type coaxial cable : for stereo analog output and coaxial digital audio output. I just purchased a new motherboard and it has 3 small jacks mounted on the back, one of them is supposed to be SPDIF output. The first pink jack is for analog microphone, the 2nd green jack is for analog audio, and the 3rd blue jack is supposed to be SPDIF digital audio out. I am interested in...

Final Conclusion

I have a Samsung 2.1 Dolby digital soundbar Connected to the TV via toslink cable (spdif). Now my TV DIGITAL output format shows 3 options to select from: spdif or auto or pcm. Currently my HTPC is in a different room than my theater. The only cable I ran for sound from my computer room to the theater room was a RCA Digital Coax cable for spdif output. From what I've read I won't be able to benefit from true 7.1 HD surround sound with this setup since spdif can only handle max 5.1. First off is this correct?

As the SPDIF Out bracket issue is a common one here, I thought I'd whip up a HOWTO re: building your own from mostly junk/leftover/"free" parts. This guide assumes the BioStar TF7050 motherboard, whose SPDIFOUT header has the ground and SPDIF OUT signal line pins next to each other. Some...