John,

True...but keep in mind, if you bent the optical cable, no signal goes through...plus...For me, the coax cable cost me $50 (I got it almost at cost), while $50 gets me the cheapest, thinnest optical. The thicker ones are about $150. Since I didn't know if the thicker ones will make that much a difference, I went for the coax.

Just had a thought on what you said: Both outputs are digital anyway...which means the datastream gets to your receiver/amp, and the amp/receiver translates it into sound. Then there shouldn't be any difference since digital is digital ('1's and '0's), I mean, computer networks uses coax cables too.