Eli5 Why did audio companies abandon TOSLINK in favor of hdmi 2.x that has distance limitations.
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HDMI 2.0 can carry 375 times as much information per second than TOSLINK.
So it more useful and somewhat future proof
Primarily because HDMI has copy protection built into the standard. The same cable can also carry both audio and video. Companies want to convince the customer that ultra high bitrates and many channels are needed to enjoy a movie, and SPDIF is limited to 4.6 or 9.2 Mbit/s (light diode connections are usually limited to 96000 Hz).
TOSLink was made in 1983. So I wouldn’t say HDMI 2.X was what made anyone abandon it. More like HDMI 1.0, DP, and SDI just incorporated more bandwidth for audio into a single cable.
Simplicity. Why have 2 standards if the vast majority of people will be completely fine with HDMI. There’s no reason why we would need a new audio-only standard right now.
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