Amazon markets this cable under several different headings. You will notice that there are a large number of sellers mentioned. What I discovered is they are not all sending similar cables but, in fact, the cables sent from different sellers differ dramatically.
The picture of the cable shown is an exact photo of the cable sent to me by Eforcity including end cap straps. I had first ordered a cable without checking and got one from SF Planet which was very thin and fragile looking. I contacted SF Planet and even emailed them a photo of the cable they sent and they said this was the regular cable they always send. They offered to refund my money but I have decided to keep the cable for the reasons cited below.
Out of curiosity I checked all of the reviews that had been written and found a wide divergence in experiences with the cable received by the customer. That made me really curious what was going on so I decided to order a cable from Eforcity to see what it was they were sending. As mentioned above the cable they sent looks just like the photo.
I then began to wonder if there was any audible difference between the Eforcity cable and the SF Planet cable; the biggest question I had was signal attenuation. I set up a test comparing a 1,000 cycle test tone with a Radio Shack sound level meter and set the volume control to generate 80 decibels on the sound level meter with the SF Planet cable installed.
I then left all of the equipment exactly as it was and substituted the Eforcity cable and got exactly the same sound level of 80 decibels with that cable as well. It appears the smaller diameter cable for SF Planet is not causing any signal attenuation.
Both cables plugged in and locked but the lock on the SF Planet cable did not produce as tight a feel as the Eforcity cable; that could vary on the hardware being connected.
Update 7-18-2010
A comment from Radio Guy helped me understand more of the nature of the Toslink cable; he pointed out that there was no problem with attenuation with fiber optic cables. I guess that helps explain the results when I tried my little test on the two cables.
I mentioned to him that I had tried to avoid optical cables in the past because I had read the digital coaxial cable was better and more reliable. This optical cable was a matter of necessity as the Toslink output was the only one available. 6 FT Digital Audio Optical TOSLink Cable Optic 6ft
The picture does not represent the product the vendor sends. The picture looks like the heavier duty Opticla cables that are made by Belkin, Monster, and some other companies. What you get is a thin about 1/8" OD cable. It works, but it does not Click firmly into Optical Digital sockets and is not likely to withstand much stress over time. You get what you pay for. If you want better, I'd suggest the Belkin cable.
Works just fine as I'm getting good sound, but I noticed it doesn't "click in place" as solidly as the version I bought and returned to Radio Shack. Since it works fine, I'm fine paying way less than the $17 RS wanted (and do note this was considerably lower than the $50 ABT wanted).
The item looks nothing like the picture in the ad. The thickness of the wire in the ad looks a lot thicker and better quality and what I received was a cheap material that has a thin flimsy wire with no protection plastic cap that is attached to the wire so you don't lose them.
My item looked nothing like the ad and it's JUNK, never going to buy from this person again.
"Buyer Beware" the product that I purchased and received was nothing like the item that I receive. This is a "Scam" and they sold me and others a cheap product that does not match the image or description of the thickness.
Apparently I'm not the first this has happened to, others have received the same cheap falsely advertised product too.
I just receieved this cable, and one end is actually a TOSlink male end, but the other end is a 3.5 style male! it actually fits 3.5mm females.
I will put up a picture of the ends, so you'll know not to get this and it will prove this cable will not work!
I don't even understand why people would waste money going to best buy to pick up an audio cable, when you can grab one on amazon from 50 different vendors at a bargain price. This is another one of those cables that deliver the same sound quality like the cables at best buy, but without the price tag.
This product works great. It does what it is supposed to do. Why would anyone spend $15 or more for a cable that they could get for about $3 including shipping? It delivers that dolby digital sound from my tv to my surround sound system. That's all I care about. - Toslink - Optical Audio - Cable - Digital Audio'
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