What is TOSLINK? A digital optical cable or connection is sometimes labeled TOSLINK (Toshiba Link). The reason Toshiba is part of the name is that they standardized this type of connection to digitally transfer audio from a CD player (newly developed at the time) to compatible stereo and home theater receivers.

Both cables can be had pretty cheap. The biggest difference is that HDMI can pass higher-resolution audio, including the formats found on Blu-ray: Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio. These formats can't get transmitted across optical. In terms of simplicity, HDMI also passes video signals.

Also known generically as optical audio, its most common use is in consumer audio equipment (via a "digital optical" socket), where it carries a digital audio stream from components such as CD and DVD players, Digital Audio Tape recorders, computers, and modern video game consoles, to an AV receiver that can decode two ...