Home Cinema Optical Cables
Buying an optical cable for use in your home cinema system will require a better quality cable than you may otherwise normally buy. This is mainly due to the high bit rate audio signals such and Dolby Digital and DTS that pass through them from your DVD or Blu-ray player to your home cinema amplifier or surround sound system.
Recommended Optical Cables for use in Home Cinema and Home Theatre
Fisual Pearl Digital Optical Cable - 2m
Fisual make a well respected selection of Optical Cables for general use, but the Pearl is their top of the range cable with a graded optical core for perfect sound, and an attractive pearlised braided sleeve with super pearl gold plated plugs. The Fisual Pearl is a great option for someone who wants a high quality cable for their home cinema. From £9.99 at Amazon.co.uk. 
Lindy Premium Gold Optical Cable
Available in sizes ranging from 0.5m right up to a staggering 50m, the Lindy Premium Gold is a well built high performance cable with gold connectors for the ultimate connection quality.
The cable itself is thicker than normal optical cables which underlines its ambitions to be one of the best on the market, and remain in good working order in your home cinema for many years to come. 1m cable for only £11.75.
IXOS XHD208 Optical Interconnect
The IXOS XHD208 is a very high quality optical cable designed specifically for the demanding home cinema enthusiast. It is attractive and well constructed as you would expect from Ixos who are one of the most respected brands in home cinema cabling, so you can be sure that the XHD208 will perform well. Available in 1m or 3m. From £14.60.
Duronic Goldspec
The Duronic Goldspec is a well made and high quality cable complete with 24k gold plated casing for those applications where you want to ensure you have given your equipment the best possible cables. Available in 1m or 2m. From £6.99.
Do I really need a special optical cable for home cinema?
Although you can get by with a standard optical cable, we think that when you spend a few hundred pounds upwards on AV separates or an all in one home cinema system (more here), and bearing in mind the quality of the home cinema equipment in use and the capabilities they have, it is best to purchase an optical cable that has been designed specifically for home cinema use, that will provide the best match in terms of quality. This means that buying a cable from one of the bigger and more specialist brands such as Lindy and QED is a good idea, and will ensure you get the best out of your system.
Optical Cables and High Definition Audio
If you have a high definition capable amplifier and Blu-ray player then an optical cable will not suit, you will need a HDMI cable instead. This is because optical cables only support 16 bit sound whereas Dolby True-HD and DTS-HD Master are both 24 bit sound.
Home Cinema and Home Theatre
If you want to read more about Home Cinema, the Home Cinema Buyer website has a wealth of reviews, information, advice and buyers guides to help you find out which products and systems are best for you.
« Return to Optical Cables home page