HDMI cables

[kusutare]

so i was over at monoprice looking at some cables and wondering if anyone has noticed quality improvment between cables such as 28AWG HDMI , 26AWG HDMI , High-Quality 24AWG, and High-Quality 22AWG. can someone explain what makes them different, and which one would be best for the money.

[Greenmatiz2]

There isn't going to be one bit of difference. I have a cheap $10 HDMI cable made in China. It's as thin as they get. Everything looks stellar.

Don't believe for a second that it will make a hill of beans difference with a digital signal. With digital, it either works or it doesn't.

[Filterlab]

Mmmm, not sure though.

I have a techlink HDMI cable which is a beast of a thing, and the results are superb.

However, I spent £400 on speaker cable so I may be slightly biased towards quality cables.

Good cables will yield more noticable results with analogue sources and less so with digital (as Greenmatiz said), although with digital it will still make a difference as digital signals are still delicate and will be susceptible to outside interference.

[Greenmatiz2]

Trust me. There are better things to waste money on. I have never in my life heard interference over a digital connection.

It's not going to sound like static. You'd get pops and clicks that you just couldn't miss. The information being sent is just 0's and 1's. You'd have to have a strong electrical field to cause any problems, I'd imagine. A very strong one.

[Blue]

Assuming everything else is the same the only difference in gauge is resistance. The higher the current or the longer the distance the higher the voltage drop. HDMI signal is a VERY low current so distance is the only factor. The resistance difference between 2m and 15m would not be measurable with domestic ohm meters.

There are however many other factors with HDMI cables that could cause problems. There is a very high frequency signal being sent over the cable. High frequencies over wire are always problematic and the problems increase with distance and the increase in frequency. Long runs in this case 5m and over will moat probably be suited to the more expensive cables (Just be aware that there is a big profit margin with cables). As the signal is digital in all likelihood the cable will work or it won't (it won't be a subtle difference as in analogue unless the error correction is working overtime and just keeping the signal)

[Rup_Muk]

How is the following for a "non"-answer:
Everybody above is right. But, in varying degrees.

Greenmatiz, though, has hit the nail on the head in stating that signal degradation for digital transmissions is not that big a concern. This is because signal threshold detectors on the receiving equipment can "reconstruct" a pristine 0 1 binary signal. That being said, if the signal gets so garbled during transmission - there will be nothing to reconstruct.

As Blue said, digital signals are very high frequencies. Indeed, the transition of the signal from either a 0 to a 1 state (or vice versa) are often considered to be electrical discontinuities and can result in the generation of a lot of harmonic frequencies. However, cheap and expensive cables will encounter the same problems - leaving no particular advantage to either.

Speaker cables - that carry analog signals - are very susceptible to signal degradation - and that does get worse with distance. Basically, the longer the cable = greater bulk cable impedance. Therefore, it is important to get good speaker cables.

Bottom line: Digital cables like HDMI: don't sweat the price.

That's my $0.02.

Rup.

[Greenmatiz2]

Yeah, I heard optical is better for long runs.