Customer Reviews

Monster Cable ILSR-2M Interlink Lightspeed Reference Fiber Optic Digital Cable (2 Meter)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The good:

1) Very good build, fit, finish & choice of colors.
2) Spring loaded connectors are an advantage to eliminate stress while connecting & reconnecting to / from devices.
3) Looks great due to quality materials used. It was expected, after all this is Monster's Reference Toshiba Link (Toslink) cable, a.k.a. Fiber Optical Digital Audio Cable.
4) The Monster ILSR Toslink cable sounds very neutral & not warm like its budget Sony / Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF) counterparts, a.k.a. Coaxial Digital Audio Cable.
5) Toslink cable is not an electrical connection so it's free from Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) / Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) unlike its budget S/PDIF counterparts. This is also its greatest strength & is ideal when using with ground loop prone hard drive / server based music systems.
6) For longer runs over 50ft, Toslink cables w'd have a clear advantage over the S/PDIF cables.
7) Amazon prices are really amazing. This cable has a Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of USD75/m as listed on Monster's website & it was last listed on Amazon for as low as USD32/m.

The bad:

1) Definitely S/PDIF cables are sturdier than Toslink cables & this sh'd only matter if U handle them a lot. In a dedicated system it sh'd not matter at all.
2) The Toslink cable's bandwidth is limited, it's even lesser than S/PDIF's bandwidth limit of 24bit/96khz. Toslink is best suited for low bandwidth 2 channel applications such as 16 bit/44khz PCM supporting formats - WAV (Waveform Audio File Format), ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) etc. For wider bandwidth, multi-channel applications, the HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is surely the best digital interface, even better than S/PDIF.
3) Manufacturing quality inconsistency issues. I bought a pair of these cables. One of them came without the connector dust caps & the sleeve extending from the connector terminal to the cord, as shown in the product image on Amazon & Monster's website, is missing. See pix I've loaded on Amazon. Of course these issues had no impact on the performance of these digital audio cables.

Background:

I wanted a good quality digital audio cable to connect my Pioneer DV-610 universal DVD player Pioneer Dv610av-k Black Multi Region Code Free Hdmi Upconverting 1080p DVD Player to a Musical Fidelity V-DAC Musical Fidelity V-DAC Upsampling Digital to Analog Audio Converter. I tried a Monster Interlink Datalink 100 Coaxial digital audio cable Monster BSDC-2M Digital Coaxial Cable (2 meters) that I already had. It did the job just fine. The DAC sounded very dull & fatiguing. It had bloated bass, muffled mids & muddled highs. I felt the need to try another digital cable to see / confirm if it's actually the DAC's limitation.

I saw the 1m Monster Interlink Lightspeed Reference (ILSR) Fiber Optic digital cable for as low as USD46/meter on Amazon. I bought it only b'cos of the low price & the fact that this is a Monster's Reference Toslink cable. I was really surprised at how this cable has opened up & changed the sound of the Musical Fidelity V-DAC. It now sounds very neutral & more dynamic, exactly like how I wanted / expected it to perform. See the pix that I've loaded on this product page.

Toslink vs S/PDIF digital audio cable:

Comparing Toslink to Coaxial digital audio cable is not easy, it's like comparing Apples to Oranges. The Toslink & Coaxial digital audio cables have their own weaknesses & strengths. The internet is full of debates on which one is better than the other. I feel there is no clear winner here. I have used S/PDIF digital audio cables to tame the brightness of certain budget systems consisting of budget DACs such as Cambridge Audio's DacMagic. I have also used this Monster ILSR Toslink cable to open up Musical Fidelity V-DAC's performance. The trick is in using the right type of digital audio cable in the right kind of system. Experimentation is the name of the game & it's all about understanding the synergy between the components.

The fact that the Toslink cable is RFI / EMI free is its greatest strength. People pay hundreds / thousands of dollars on well insulated Power Cords & Interconnects only b'cos they resist RFI / EMI more effectively. Here is a digital cable that is by design immune to RFI / EMI. There is no point in buying budget Toslink cables that are made of poor quality optical fiber (plastic). In fact a cheaply made Toslink can sound far worse / inferior than budget S/PDIF & glass optical cables due to poor Refractive Index. This is what adds to jitter, it's audible & repeatable. For those on very tight budget, a decent S/PDIF or glass optical digital audio cable is the safest alternative.

Conclusion:

My current reference Toslink is the WireWorld Supernova 6 glass optical digital cable (see pix). It's priced at almost USD200/m. This is the best Toslink that I c'd get my hands on. What I like best about this glass Toslink is how fluid (glare free), colorless (almost real) & transparent (background details) a digital cable can get regardless of price. There is no listening fatigue whatsoever & on some days, I've had the music play nonstop for 15hours.

It's unfair to directly compare the WireWorld Supernova 6 Glass Toslink with the Monster ILSR Fiber Toslink as they truly belong to different classes & are priced accordingly. If WireWorld's Supernova is First class then Monster's ILSR is Business class. Despite the price difference the Monster ILSR does a great job & sh'd be seriously considered if U are on a tight budget.

Monster bashing is a favorite pastime on Amazon. I do respect other's opinion & I have myself kept / stayed away from Monster's ridiculously over priced HDMI cables. Currently cable prices of all brands are tumbling down. This is great news for budget stereophiles like me. I see as much as 50 - 75% discount on certain high-end cables such as AudioQuest & Pangea that are listed by Audio Advisor on Amazon.

I have used Monster's mid-range cables in the past with good / decent results. This Monster ILSR Toslink cable was listed @ USD90/m on Monster's website early last year. I bought it from Amazon in Dec 2009 when it was priced @ 46USD/m. It was last listed on Amazon for as low as USD32/m. At this price, this is the best 'value for money' Toslink - Fiber Optic digital audio cable that one can get.

Unlearn whatever you have read about digital audio cables thus far. Toslink & SPDIF do not give the same results as some people claim. In decent / good quality music systems the difference between digital cables can be quiet profound. Sometimes what can be proved theoretically just fails practically as my experiments with cables have proved. I'd say try both Toslink (Fiber or Glass) & SPDIF in U'r system & see what brings out the best in U'r system. Let what U hear in U'r system be the deciding factor & not what U read online color U'r decision. Just return the cable that does not sound impressive. U'd be surprised at what U find cos I'm quiet surprised at the results I've found trying out different cables in my budget system. This hobby is all about experimenting & playing with the synergy between different components.

Just my $0.02.

Brgds.

I replaced another Monster Optical cable (actually i broke it) and it was a middle of the line cable.
I did read all of the reviews of the cables and the guy who said don't waste your money buy a cheaper cable is totally wrong and at the same time he is 100% correct if his ears do not work correctly (hearing problems) or has crappy speakers. I have B&W Nautilus 805's and the difference is like day and night. The instruments playing behind the main guitar and singer, are just awesome, detail and accuracy are unreal. If you have high end speakers you are wasting your speakers abilities if you don't get a high end cable, if you have box store speakers you probably will not hear any difference between these and cheaper ones. If your speakers can't deliver the goods this cable is a waste of money unless you're looking to upgrade a little at a time. But they are absolutely great cables. Hope this helps.