AudioQuest Vodka 1.5m Premium Optical Toslink Digital Audio Cable with Mini-Adapter - Perfect for Home Theater Systems, Soundbars & Gaming Consoles

Performance of Vodka OptiLink is simply unbelievable. I read about it on AudioQuest website before I bough it, and the description mentioned that it would outperform many Coaxial cables in a similar price range. Well, almost every audiophile source would tell you to use Coax and not optical, right? So how could that be true?I happened to have AudioQuest VDM-3 coaxial digital cable so I connected Arcam rDAC using both Vodka OptiLink and VDM-3 to the same Denon DVD-2910 used purely as CD transport. Arcam rDAC was connected to Beyerdynamic A1 headphone amplifier using AudioQuest Sydney RCA interconnect; A1 was driving Beyerdynamic T90 headphones.First thing that struck me was immense clarity and fullness of the sound that Vodka OptiLink produced. I switched back and forth between coax and optical inputs (Arcam rDAC has a button for that so I did not have to reconnect anything), and it was quite obvious that the sound was different.Coax input produced about the same very natural, clean, and slightly warm sound as async USB input of rDAC connected to iMac using AudioQuest Carbon USB cable and running Audirvana Plus.Optical input though produced crystal clear, very transparent, and very spacious sound. There was so much air in the sound that I was under impression that I could hear artists breath in some recording. Somehow it reminded me a sound on an icy and frosty night, when everything is so quiet that even the slightest sounds can be heard hundreds feet away.Out of curiosity, I also connected AudioQuest Cinnamon OptiLink just to see how it would compare. Well, Cinnamon is a great cable but not as good as Vodka. The sound through Cinnamon was about the same or very slightly worse as through VDM-3 or Carbon USB. There definitely was quite a noticeable difference between two (not as open nor transparent).Now, having said that, I think that Vodka OptiLink would greatly benefit the system that has enough performance that Vodka can preserve (remember, cables do not improve anything, they just do less harm the better cable is?). I honestly was surprised that Denon DVD-2910 and Arcam rDAC had enough performance that I could see such a difference.Also, I had one issue with Vodka OptiLink.As Vodka OptiLink is very stiff and thus cannot be twisted (you can bend it easily but not twist), both connectors on both sides should be terminated in the same orientation (for example, flat part of the connector facing up). Unfortunately, this was not the case with mine - the connectors were oriented at about 100+ degrees angle (one flat side would look up, while another would look to the side, slightly down).So what's the big deal? The issue comes when you try to connect two pieces of equipment that expect you to have both flat sides of the cable facing up.I did manage to connect it just for the test, but any longer term use would not be a good idea, as the cable would form something that looked like a half spiral on one end. Besides looking ugly, this would also put some considerable twisting force on that side (Denon's optical connector in my case).Obviously, the cable I got was not properly terminated so I had to return mine.I did not remove any stars for this specific reason but if you buy Vodka OptiLink, make sure your cable does not have a similar issue.