Can anyone here guide me to a cable with a toslink (optical) connector on one end and a coaxial digital connector at the other? I'm trying to get digital sound from my PS2. So far I have only been able to find a converter box that completes this function, but I am not interested in that as a solution as the space behind my tv is already cluttered enough. Besides, I'd rather buy one cable and be done with it than buy two cables and a converter. Thanks in advance for your replies.

Uhhh, I will go out on a limb here and say that, as far as digital audio is concerned, I think it would be a neat trick to convert light to eletricity w/o a converter box.

You may have a look at monoprice, but I think all you will find are small powered converter boxes. They do work well, BTW.

Now, if there is a such a thing, I am all eyes.....

Brian

The single cable you desire would need to have an integrated converter. It's not like you want to simply adapt one connector type to another; toslink has an optical (light) signal and coax has an electrical signal.

That's your only practical option. You need the box in order to convert the light pulses into electrical ones.

Yeah, this is the only thing I've seen:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2947&seq=1&format=2&style=

I understand the space concern, but it doesn't look THAT big. (edit: actually, that's the coax to optical one, but they have the optical to coax for sale, too.)

Optical to coaxial is not like an HDMI-to-DVI cable, where the same video signal is used going in and out.

An alternative, which I believe is smaller, but more expensive, is the CO2 (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Co2MAudiod/).

An alternative, which I believe is smaller, but more expensive, is the CO2 (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Co2MAudiod/).

The CO2 looks like a more "solid" unit. Does anyone have experience with either one?
Is the CO2 worth the higher tag? Is there any deterioration in sound quality?

Is there any deterioration in sound quality?
Well, theoretically, there shouldn't be.

There was a thread here recently where a couple of people couldn't get the Monoprice box to work. Whether they resolved the issue or not, I'm not certain.

Some time ago, Radio Shack made a PCM/Optical Converter #15-1228.
It had both a Optical and PCM output.
The input was selectable between Optical and PCM.

I have something that looks just like the box from monoprice. I've used it for years and works great.

I've used the CO2 in the past, and it was fine. Whether it's worth the money that's up to you. The price difference isn't terrible, anyway.

I just discovered these also. To re-ask the question; how transparent are these? There must be some degradation. Going from optical to coaxial seems more involved that what a $12 adapter would provide.
It reminds me of those $15 no-name RF amps which I wouldn't touch with a 10' pole.

I just discovered these also. To re-ask the question; how transparent are these? There must be some degradation.

It's digital, all 1s and 0s. If there were any sort of degradation, the sound would cut out completely and you'd hear it immediately.

Going from optical to coaxial seems more involved that what a $12 adapter would provide.


All it is doing is changing light pulses to electrical pulses, or vice versa.

How are these powered?

Probably with a "wall wart"?
power supply: 9V DC 500mA

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/ma-co2.html

There must be some degradation.

No, there isn't. That's the beauty of digital. Those RF adaptors were analog, where degradation is very real.