ST (Straight Tip) optical instead of Toslink?

[pburke]

I came across an old post at the Audioasylum where somebody posted that he had excellent results connecting DAC with CD player using an ST connection (AT&T straight tip), usually found in faster optical telecom lines.

couldn't find anything relevant searching this forum - what I was looking for was some input from somebody who has built an ST interface before.

This is the stuff I am talking about:

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=digital&n=1912

more specifically - could I pirate the guts of one of these things to connect my DAC with my CD player without running into major problems? The thing runs on 5V so I should be able to hook it up quite easily instead of the exisiting Toslink TORX sender/receiver:

http://www.blackbox.com/faxbacks/15000/15310.PDF

Peter

 

[fmak]

I came across an old post at the Audioasylum where somebody posted that he had excellent results connecting DAC with CD player using an ST connection (AT&T straight tip), usually found in faster optical telecom lines.

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Some manufacturers despise it (dCS); others love it (Audio Synthesis).

My experience is that it is as sensitive (if not more) to cabling as 75R electrical. Apparently the fit between cable termination and receiver/transmitter is very important. So is the fibre spec.