Does quality of cables make a difference in digital transmissions?

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If you have some serious AV stuff, I would never trust them with cheap cables, be it HDMI/RCA or coax. I am also not propagating that you should use super expensive cables, but atleast go for decent cables like MX who are known to manufacture VFM cables instead of buying some cheap unknown Chinese cables. Of course if you think the quality does not matter, then the type of cable does not matter. Something tells me, you cannot manufacture a quality cable at 50 rupees.
 
SoundsGreat said:
Hi,

I live in Sanjaynagar, You are more then welcome to drop in anytime but with only one condition,don't come with prejudice or for proving me wrong ! Come with an open mind and if you see the difference make it a point to share it with everyone so that they can understand ! PM me if you are serious bout coming.

Regards.
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Why don't you just post a detailed analysis and the scientific basis on which you arrived at your results over here at TE? :) You can post in the Reviews section of the forums.

[sarcasm]

While you are at it, why don't you also make a detailed comparison between the performance of the costly high quality Toslink cables that come with gold plated connectors and the El cheapo ones on ebay that don't come with such connectors? With the results of your research and the sensitive equipment that you used to objectively compare the other cables, I am pretty sure you can prove once and for all that the Toslink cables with gold plated connectors are well worth the premium over the El cheapo ones. [/sarcasm]
 
I'm closing this thread, if you all want to discuss this further kindly open a thread in the appropriate tech forum. If you want, I could move all OT posts from here to that thread.
 
Interesting discussion! :)
@SoundsGreat, is there a discernible decrease in the quality of the output when using cheap cables instead of expensive ones? Is there any way I can measure it at home without spending a lot of money other than for the cables? When I say measuring, I am leaning more towards viewing a particular scene in a movie with the same Bluray player using an expensive cable first and then later using a cheap cable. Same goes for the audio. Have you performed any such tests? I am not interested in the stats measured using a multimeter, because I'd rather 'see' the difference than 'read' the difference. Hope, I don't come across as rambling. :)
 
SoundsGreat said:
Hi,
I live in Sanjaynagar, You are more then welcome to drop in anytime but with only one condition,don't come with prejudice or for proving me wrong ! Come with an open mind and if you see the difference make it a point to share it with everyone so that they can understand ! PM me if you are serious bout coming.

Regards.
Click to expand...
sent you a PM, if its near my place then i will visit your place for sure and dont worry i dont have anything against you and just want to see the difference between the two cables.
 
I think the person in question is measuring the video and audio signals using some super specialized equipment and even a 0.1% difference in quality is enough for judging that the cheaper ones are inferior.

This is like for a normal person talking on vodafone network or airtel network in a particular area is same as he does not perceive any difference in call quality vis-a-vis actually measuring the dB signal strength signal of Airtel Vs Vodafone and if there is even a 2dB difference then term the lower one as inferior network coverage.

PS: Not sure if my post above makes any sense :P :ashamed:
 
I think the person in question is measuring the video and audio signals using some super specialized equipment and even a 0.1% difference in quality is enough for judging that the cheaper ones are inferior.
This is like for a normal person talking on vodafone network or airtel network in a particular area is same as he does not perceive any difference in call quality vis-a-vis actually measuring the dB signal strength signal of Airtel Vs Vodafone and if there is even a 2dB difference then term the lower one as inferior network coverage.
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Exactly my thought. Statistics provide a lot of information but sometimes it doesn't add up to a visual difference.
For instance, if you compare a VCD to a DVD, to a Superbit DVD, to a Bluray. You can make out the difference instantly by seeing. That difference in quality, I can understand and agree to. But, what I cannot understand is spending a bomb on cables that are branded and I cannot make out the difference in the output provided by cheap or expensive cables. Somehow, I feel that I have not got any value for money. :)
 
Got my cable from Ebay for 175 ( and Rs,100/-) recharge for my phone. Net cost 75/- pretty good decent cable. Will check out put with existing high priced cable and local 75 bux wala and come back
 
Sorry for bumping an old thread.

There is a reason for me to not go for the cheapest thing available.

Having observed few friends who tried cheap cables, here is why i will prefer something in-between cheap and the most expensive stuff.

- frequent removal makes the connectors on cheapo ones lose grip or not make proper contact after a short period of time

- the claimed gold-plating on cheap ones is abviously not what it should be and leads to oxidation/improper contact.
 
^ Reg. the first point, what if the cable is never unplugged? I have a set up with an el cheapo HDMI cable from my media player to my TV. I haven't removed it ever since installation. That's well over months. I guess the loosening would not apply here.

Can you however elaborate a bit on the second point. Went completely overhead :S
 
BIKeINSTEIN said:
Sorry for bumping an old thread.

There is a reason for me to not go for the cheapest thing available.

Having observed few friends who tried cheap cables, here is why i will prefer something in-between cheap and the most expensive stuff.

- frequent removal makes the connectors on cheapo ones lose grip or not make proper contact after a short period of time

- the claimed gold-plating on cheap ones is abviously not what it should be and leads to oxidation/improper contact.
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Agreed on both the above points. I use a couple of 100Rs HDMI cables and they've been serving me quite well for sometime now. However, sometime back a similar 100Rs cable I had before, simply refused to unplug from the socket and after applying some force the plug came out loosely with the all the cables exposed. In short - KAPUT! And yes the claimed gold plating is probably hoax. They become like any usual connector after a brief period of usage. But I am not sure if that affects the quality of the signal? Improper contact - I am not sure of that though.

Btw what happened to SoundsGreat's claims? Is he AWOL?
 
^^Soundsgreat invited me to his place for a demo but its too far,so didnt go,may be some other member near to his place can visit him and check out the difference.
 
I have myself compared a $12 HDMI cable bought off amazon and a Rs.150 HDMI cable bought locally.
I couldn't find any difference in Quality of the output they give.
 
Look i agree there aint much of a difference when it comes to equipment in the normal range. I have my ht's lcd's and media players and a monster cable to me sounds exactly the same as does a cheap mx cable.

But a couple of weeks back at a business associates place who is a die hard spender(not cause me is an audiophile), i heard his b&w speakers and he boasted about how he had spend around 1.5l on wiring alone. He claimed his each hdmi cable was worth 12k and i told him d same as mentioned above till he gave me a live demo// And guys, for the first time i found a difference.

Not having any considerable proof, my conclusion is that the equipment in use is what probably cause the sound quality difference...
ps: i still use my el cheapo m/x cable :)
 
^With high-end equipment, maybe that's true. Which is why they probably rely on expensive wiring. I think even Chaos was of the same opinion.
 
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