HDMI Cable Myth: Hilarious but an eye opener

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I really do want to believe that data transmission through HDMI cable is all digital hence HDMI cable quality makes no difference. But my real world experience has been different. Ultimately one has make his own opinion.
 
one thing called build quality is also there. A few optical spdif cables i bought locally lasted only a few weeks :(
 
Honeywell HDMI Cable With CURxE Light Technology

these, well i'm sure will be the perfect cables. data may be lost even if its optical or whateva, there is something called attenuation.
 
data may be lost even if its optical or whateva, there is something called attenuation.
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yes, in which case you get no data...A cheap TOSlink cable on my setup refused to pass audio/passed choppy audio unless it was connected completely straight....

there cannot be any perceptible difference in the audio or video quality between a cheap and expensive digital cable..unless we talking about some esoteric measuring mechanism which goes beyond what known science can understand
 
superczar said:
yes, in which case you get no data...A cheap TOSlink cable on my setup refused to pass audio/passed choppy audio unless it was connected completely straight....

there cannot be any perceptible difference in the audio or video quality between a cheap and expensive digital cable..unless we talking about some esoteric measuring mechanism which goes beyond what known science can understand
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the data is intact and digital the moment it reaches the pot of a soundcard or whichever applicable.

Unless the wire/medium has error correction, like the honeywell i posted, tehre can be no other pakka way of saying all signals are transmitted perfectly.
 
well its good if he does. atleast i can know whats wright and whats wrong :P
 
It's the same story with audio cables. People are suckers and really believe that the more expensive something is, the better it is always.

Here's another similar story:

Audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster Cable and coat hangers - Engadget

It's a nice loot, and I am sure somewhere some marketing guys are laughing their heads off, that is while taking a break from counting their money.

Now I am just waiting for Apple to start selling iCables. That's when I start shooting people.
 
Cables do make a difference in sound but its so miniscule, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere :P. One can perceive a difference but will be hard pressed to distinguish them in a blind ABX test. Many a times folks use cables as a tone control which is ridiculous. Spending on cables makes sense when everything else is absolutely top of the line... I mean the very best in terms of resolution and I'm talking about stuff worth a few hundred thousand dollars. Thats when every single bit counts.

Any good quality cable with shielding and good quality connectors is enough. Shielding is important. There's a substantial audible difference between shielded and unshielded speaker cables. Other than that, good cables look good and blend into the room's decor :P.

vebk said:
It's the same story with audio cables. People are suckers and really believe that the more expensive something is, the better it is always.
Here's another similar story:
Audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster Cable and coat hangers - Engadget

It's a nice loot, and I am sure somewhere some marketing guys are laughing their heads off, that is while taking a break from counting their money.

Now I am just waiting for Apple to start selling iCables. That's when I start shooting people.
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Monster cable is not high end cable... infact its complete rubbish :P. If you wanna talk high end, then talk of Transparent Audio or Audioquest or Siltech or stuff like that.

superczar said:
yes, in which case you get no data...A cheap TOSlink cable on my setup refused to pass audio/passed choppy audio unless it was connected completely straight....

there cannot be any perceptible difference in the audio or video quality between a cheap and expensive digital cable..unless we talking about some esoteric measuring mechanism which goes beyond what known science can understand
Click to expand...

Czar... come down to my place next time you are in bangalore. Will show you a difference between toslink cables. The absolute bargain basement ones have serious attenuation problems.
 
Czar... come down to my place next time you are in bangalore. Will show you a difference between toslink cables. The absolute bargain basement ones have serious attenuation problems.
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yupp...agree with that ...the cheap ones drop some of the signal which manifests itself as momentary dropouts, clicks and pops, esp when the data flow is more e.g. in the case of DTS audio

I was using a stop-gap cheap cable (>100 Rs) for a few days while waiting for my cable to come in (not some uber expensive one, a basic TOSlink worth some 400/-) and the signal drops was maddening

Theoretically, cables may make a difference but the return you get for the additional moolah you spend over a certain point is not (or very barely ) discernible

Also, the relative difference the quality of cable makes depends on the point within the system the cable is used...

Sunnyboi, If I was on a fixed budget for cables in a AV setup:

  • I would spend the most money on the Analog interconnects (preAmp-Amp) since the signal level is already low and 0these cables would need a good degree of shielding to prevent intertference from external EMI sources
  • If I were using a turntable, I would spend even more on the pick-up to Pre-Amp cable for the same reason
  • The next important cable would be the Amp - Speaker connects...less important than the previous, but since the impedance of the speakers is already low, I'd rather not add any addition Resistance (or Capacitance) by using poor quality cables, esp. if the cable run is long....By poor quality cables, I mean those cheap barely shielded cables available at neighborhood electrical stores.....

  • For the kind of setups we see on TE, IMHO, anything over the thick (16-18AWG) good quality copper cables from MX and similar is overkill as long as the cable lengths are limited to 10 meters or so
  • - Assuming my AV setup has no analog video connections and relies on DVI-D/HDMI, I would get a cable with reasonable quality interconnects but would not break my head over it since from my understanding of the DVI-D/HDMI standard, any dropped packets would lead to freezes/digital artifacts on the screen rather than a drop of quality, and if I see the former occuring, i would know that I need to get a better quality cable (Considering tht drop of quality is hard to define, there is no limit to the amount one can spend on an analog cable in that elusive quest for the best possible quality, unlike DVI-D/HDMI where dropped packets are rather easy to spot)
  • - The last bit of my money for cables would go to the power connectors (if at all) since IMHO, the default power cables that come with the device are good enough and I'd rather rely on the power conversion/filter setup within the device than spend my money on an esoteric search for cleaning/filtering power via the electrical cables I use
 
Hmmm I'm having soem popping issues. wondering whether its because of wires.

Sorry got going OT.
 
Its probably cos of the connector not the wires. Anyway the cables that come with the MX5021 are real bad. I suggest you get atleast 16AWG MX speaker cables. They are cheap and you hopefully won't get pops and clicks.
 
Pops and clicks are typically digital artifacts rather than an analog cable signal loss (e.g the way your cordless phone- analog starts getting hissy when you move out of range or if there is interference while your cellphone - digita starts giving pops-clicks-drops when you move into a low signal area)

The problem could be with the input source also in which case...
 
@Chaos : Not usign the MX5021 wires.

I just took a local headphone to RCA cable, snipped off the RCA connectors and soldered the TRS ones.

@scz : Pops become louder and more in numbers as u increase the volume on the MX5021 pod i.e., Max volume in fb2k and minimal in MX gives much less pops than less volume in fb2k and more in MX.
 
Is it that what you are referring to as pops isn't really pops?

The problem you are desribing usually stems from clipping at high levels from the Sound card op/amp

Do you have access to a spare PCI/USB sound card that you can try out?
 
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