Yup, the technology on each end of the fiber is as important as the actual piece of fiber itself. single mode, multi-mode, single core, multi-core, lasers, LEDs, too short, too long, plastic core, glass, and so on and on.
The good news is that if the Toslink cable has been built to the current toslink standards, it will have all the sufficient bandwidth to cover your multi-channel needs.
The bad news is that if you actually want to send the new High Def sound formats in their pure "uncompressed" form to your receiver, then you are limited to a HDMI cable only. Luckily there are other options depending on your setup.
The really depressing news, if you were not already aware, is that there is not really a LASER in your CD or DVD player shooting the light out into the cable. It's really just a LED light capable of flashing at bionic rates.
Very disappointing, I had taken apart two old cd players and had great plans to mount the lasers on a shark.
"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done."
