Best VGA Cable for Xbox 360?

[Lawfer]

Basically I want VGA for the video and HDMI for the audio,

why ? What audio(-only) sink is there that supports HDMI but doesn't support toslink ?

Won't HDMI give me superior sound than Toslink/TRS? And I want VGA for the video to bypass the blackcrush issue on the Xbox 360 (also similar issue on Xbox One from what I read) that you get when you set the Reference Levels to "Expanded", by using VGA you can get "Expanded" Reference Levels and bypass the blackcrush issue.

[Fudoh]

Won't HDMI give me superior sound than Toslink/TRS?

not from a 360. It's exactly the same bitstream signal - both for LPCM stereo and DD5.1.

On newer sources HDMI enables you to use multi channel LPCM or HD Audio formats, but that's not relevant for a 360.

[nmalinoski]

Basically I want VGA for the video and HDMI for the audio,

why ? What audio(-only) sink is there that supports HDMI but doesn't support toslink ?

Won't HDMI give me superior sound than Toslink/TRS? And I want VGA for the video to bypass the blackcrush issue on the Xbox 360 (also similar issue on Xbox One from what I read) that you get when you set the Reference Levels to "Expanded", by using VGA you can get "Expanded" Reference Levels and bypass the blackcrush issue.

Sort of? As far as I can tell, the best the 360 can support is 5.1 Dolby Digital (I don't know anything about WMA Pro), which TOSLINK can transport just fine.

The only thing that HDMI might have over TOSLINK, is that TOSLINK, as a technology, supposedly suffers from the occasional jitter, where HDMI does not. I have not personally experienced (or at least I haven't noticed) any kind of audio issue using TOSLINK with my original Xbox or PS2, but I'm also not an audio expert.

My expectation is that, as long as your home theater receiver/sound system/whatever accepts TOSLINK, you wouldn't know the difference; plus, if what other members have stated is true, you won't be able to use the VGA output with HDMI connected anyway.

Edit: Took too long to type; Fudoh beat me to it.

[Lawfer]

Won't HDMI give me superior sound than Toslink/TRS?

not from a 360. It's exactly the same bitstream signal - both for LPCM stereo and DD5.1.

On newer sources HDMI enables you to use multi channel LPCM or HD Audio formats, but that's not relevant for a 360.

Sort of? As far as I can tell, the best the 360 can support is 5.1 Dolby Digital (I don't know anything about WMA Pro), which TOSLINK can transport just fine.

Oh, then thank you for the info, looks like I was complicating the setup for no real upgrade then and from the looks of it Microsoft seem to have made it so that the HDMI input gets blocked on purpose, see:

Original Xbox 360 with official grey cable (HDMI gets blocked):



Slim Xbox 360 with official black cable (HDMI gets blocked):



I'll just use Toslink then for DD5.1.

The only thing that HDMI might have over TOSLINK, is that TOSLINK, as a technology, supposedly suffers from the occasional jitter, where HDMI does not. I have not personally experienced (or at least I haven't noticed) any kind of audio issue using TOSLINK with my original Xbox or PS2, but I'm also not an audio expert.

I have 2 Toslink cables, a 75mm one and a 1m one, jitter happens from what I understand on longer lengths and with cables that are the run-of-the-mil quality, both cables that I have use more than 200 quartz fibers rather than acrylic.

[nmalinoski]

The only thing that HDMI might have over TOSLINK, is that TOSLINK, as a technology, supposedly suffers from the occasional jitter, where HDMI does not. I have not personally experienced (or at least I haven't noticed) any kind of audio issue using TOSLINK with my original Xbox or PS2, but I'm also not an audio expert.

I have 2 Toslink cables, a 75mm one and a 1m one, jitter happens from what I understand on longer lengths and with cables that are the run-of-the-mil quality, both cables that I have use more than 200 quartz fibers rather than acrylic.

I have two AmazonBasics and three Monoprice TOSLINK cables. Each is 2m or 3m in length, and they're probably all made of garbage, although I haven't noticed any issues. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯