Digital coaxial cables

Coaxial S/PDIF

— a cable for transmitting digital signals in S/PDIF format via electrical wire. This interface allows for the transmission of multi-channel sound, using RCA connectors for connection. Thus, externally, the S/PDIF coaxial cable is almost identical to the "RCA – RCA" cable, but it has a more powerful shielding, as the dense flow of digital data is more sensitive to interference than an analog audio signal. Therefore, these cables cannot be called interchangeable: the digital signal may significantly degrade when transmitted over a regular "RCA – RCA," and the S/PDIF cable is expensive, making its use in analog connections only practical as a backup option.

There is another variety of S/PDIF — optical. For more details, see the relevant section, but here it is noted that the coaxial cable is not as fragile and delicate, although even the highest quality shielding offers no absolute guarantee against interference.