April 29th, 2026
DAC vs AOC vs Optical Transceiver: Which Interconnect Should You Use?
DAC, AOC, or optical transceiver — three interconnect types, three distinct use cases. Pick the wrong one and you either overspend on reach you don't need or hit a hard distance wall mid-deployment.
This guide gives you a direct comparison across cost, reach, power draw, latency, and flexibility, then maps each option to the deployment scenarios where it actually makes sense. If you're speccing a 100G top-of-rack link or planning a cross-DC run at 400G, the answer is here.