I am using Optical too, and I personally feel it sounds clearer, and maybe louder too, compared to analogue connection. My TV has optical output, so I just use it to output everything (Astro, PS4 and Media Player) to my R2000DB. PS4 and Astro both output sound via HDMI, while Media Player is TV built-in. So it's all digital to digital here, and how much difference does it make compare to analogue to digital or digital to analogue, this I do not know much I'm afraid. I also got its Bluetooth function to play audio FLAC files from my smartphone, and it surprisingly sounds very good even though via Wireless. My phone is Huawei P9.