lostboyz lostboyz lostboyz.... naughty!
they are both DIGITAL
digitally speaking at 25 ft you are probably going to get the same quality signal. i find that optical is better though because it is not susceptible to electromagnetic interference, which may not hurt the signal, but could cause unwanted noise in the amplification parts of your system.
I have to concur. At great distances optical would be a better choice as light is impeded far less by say, a mile of glass than electricity is a mile of the best gold plated wire you can find (electrons travel along the outer edge of wire mind you). At short range coax is theoretically better due to not having covert from electricity to light and back that optical has to but I'd challenge you to hear the difference.
That said I pick optical over coax unless it's unavailable or I just need something temporary.