Anyone know anything about TOSLINK cables?

These are pretty expensive cables, but that's not really why I'm posting. They seem to hold paramount the specification of signal-to-noise ratio, but I have to wonder, since most places only sell 1, 2, and 3 -meter cables, can the signal loss over distance be that great? I wish to soon connect my computer to a Dolby 5.1 receiver via a TOSLINK cable, and I'll need about 10 meters to connect the two devices (I have a Hercules Game Theater XP 7.1, if any of you know about that). That means I'll have to buy two 5-meter cables and a coupler. Does anyone know if this will degrade my signal at all? I really don't know much about the S/PDIF audio specification so if someone could shed some light about signal loss I'd be very appreciative.

Toslink cables are basically optical cable. As you know, they very expensive when using in long lengths. If possible, just try to use ordinary coaxial cable, if your soundcard supports it. Optical cable is much more fragile and can be easily broken.