More 'Audiophile' bullsh*t

[TEKNOPUG]

Amazon Basics cable are fine as long as you choose sufficient bandwidth.

I use Zeskit cables. A bit more money but you can be confident that they will work across all bandwidths. Nothing worse than chasing issues when you install new kit.

[911hope]

bhstewie said:

No strictly audio but an iInteresting experience looking for a HDMI cable for a newly purchased Apple TV 4K.

It's a foot from the TV so you'd think any cable of adequate construction would be fine and I work in a field where I know that petabytes of data is shifted over perfectly normal ethernet cables but I still found myself overwhelmed by the quantity of cables on Amazon at all manner of price points.

Ended up with a 50cm Kenable cable at £3.50 as it's officially certified and they're a sensible reputable brand but it's easy to see how people get suckered into some of this stuff

Marketing hdmi cables as having a performance advantage should be a criminal offence. It is a digital interface.

Likewise optical cables in audio.

[TEKNOPUG]

911hope said:

bhstewie said:

No strictly audio but an iInteresting experience looking for a HDMI cable for a newly purchased Apple TV 4K.

It's a foot from the TV so you'd think any cable of adequate construction would be fine and I work in a field where I know that petabytes of data is shifted over perfectly normal ethernet cables but I still found myself overwhelmed by the quantity of cables on Amazon at all manner of price points.

Ended up with a 50cm Kenable cable at £3.50 as it's officially certified and they're a sensible reputable brand but it's easy to see how people get suckered into some of this stuff

Marketing hdmi cables as having a performance advantage should be a criminal offence. It is a digital interface.

Likewise optical cables in audio.

You'd be amazed how many don't meet certification bandwidth, even though they claim that they do. However, if they work, they work. There is no performance benefit above and beyond certification.

[bitchstewie]

Do you mean claim to meet the specs but aren't actually certified? Or you mean they're certified but still don't meet the specs?

This is what I got.

Certified Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 Cable 8K 60Hz / 4K 120Hz 48Gbps White Plug 0.5m

Which seems bonkers for the money.

[911hope]

TEKNOPUG said:

You'd be amazed how many don't meet certification bandwidth, even though they claim that they do. However, if they work, they work. There is no performance benefit above and beyond certification.

How do you know they don't meet the bandwidth?

[TEKNOPUG]

911hope said:

TEKNOPUG said:

You'd be amazed how many don't meet certification bandwidth, even though they claim that they do. However, if they work, they work. There is no performance benefit above and beyond certification.

How do you know they don't meet the bandwidth?

For example: https://youtu.be/XFbJD6RE4EY?t=358

17% failure rate of cables tested including brands such as Belkin. And that's before you even consider all the cheap Chinese cables that stick a fake certification label on their boxes.

[TEKNOPUG]

bhstewie said:

Do you mean claim to meet the specs but aren't actually certified? Or you mean they're certified but still don't meet the specs?

This is what I got.

Certified Ultra High Speed HDMI 2.1 Cable 8K 60Hz / 4K 120Hz 48Gbps White Plug 0.5m

Which seems bonkers for the money.

Both.

If it works fine. But if it doesn't then you wasted time and energy testing the problem to determine it's the cable, returning it, buying another etc. Especially if you are using 2.1 equipment, longer runs etc. If you are just connecting one device a short distance and just displaying HD content then you are unlikely top run into issues. Otherwise it might be prudent to spend a little more on a well reviewed product that should minimise the chances of issues. Particularly on cables over 3m in length.

I'm not trying to suggest that one cable can produce a better image or sound than another. Simply that some products will have a higher failure rate due to either design or manufacturing.

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Monday 3rd July 11:24

[911hope]

TEKNOPUG said:

911hope said:

TEKNOPUG said:

You'd be amazed how many don't meet certification bandwidth, even though they claim that they do. However, if they work, they work. There is no performance benefit above and beyond certification.

How do you know they don't meet the bandwidth?

For example: https://youtu.be/XFbJD6RE4EY?t=358

17% failure rate of cables tested including brands such as Belkin. And that's before you even consider all the cheap Chinese cables that stick a fake certification label on their boxes.

Is there a reference showing test results and test methodology?

[stevoknevo]

911hope said:

TEKNOPUG said:

You'd be amazed how many don't meet certification bandwidth, even though they claim that they do. However, if they work, they work. There is no performance benefit above and beyond certification.

How do you know they don't meet the bandwidth?

In my case it was drop outs/green screen flashes playing games in 4k on the Xbox as I had relocated everything and plugged another cable i had in instead of the supplied one, plugged the supplied one back in and never had an issue since.

[OutInTheShed]

911hope said:

Marketing hdmi cables as having a performance advantage should be a criminal offence. It is a digital interface.

Likewise optical cables in audio.

Digital is quite 'analogue' when it's a few Gbit/s.

[Sporky]

If you're careful you can get HDMI just on the edge and have an image with green sparkles. Easier if there's no HDCP as that very often craps out first

[bitchstewie]

TEKNOPUG said:

Both.

If it works fine. But if it doesn't then you wasted time and energy testing the problem to determine it's the cable, returning it, buying another etc. Especially if you are using 2.1 equipment, longer runs etc. If you are just connecting one device a short distance and just displaying HD content then you are unlikely top run into issues. Otherwise it might be prudent to spend a little more on a well reviewed product that should minimise the chances of issues. Particularly on cables over 3m in length.

I'm not trying to suggest that one cable can produce a better image or sound than another. Simply that some products will have a higher failure rate due to either design or manufacturing.

Makes sense.

Cable seems fine and the Apple TV has a "HDMI test" built in where it goes off for about two minutes and says "it's fine" and it'll keep monitoring the connection quality whatever that means.

Guess I don't need that Nordost Valhalla just yet

[911hope]

OutInTheShed said:

911hope said:

Marketing hdmi cables as having a performance advantage should be a criminal offence. It is a digital interface.

Likewise optical cables in audio.

Digital is quite 'analogue' when it's a few Gbit/s.

At the lowest level of abstraction everything is analogue, regardless of data rate.

Either the data gets there or it does not.

It is a synchronous interface.

If it is compliant to the hdmi spec, then it will get there.

Any additional money spent on claimed higher performance is wasted money.

[Snoggledog]

TonyRPH said:

thebraketester said:

Hit me up with the link please Tony

https://vintagetechnics.audio/

Fascinating website. I think my dad has still got most of his old Technics kit even though he 'upgraded' many years ago to Linn. The silly fool even bought Linn amps which were utterly dreadful.

[Baron Greenback]

1400watt mono amp at £350k each https://www.whathifi.com/news/goldmunds-flagship-t... wonder who the target audience are for these amps? Willy waving or music studio or somethings else.

[Spleen]

I visited my hifi chap the other day as I broke a banana plug on some speaker cable. We got yabbering, as you do, and after demoing a pair of Dali Kores hooked up to the new Naim Classic 200 Series I pondered what they would be like with a Naim Statement system. We talked some more and it turned out that he'd just installed the THIRD Naim Statement system into a chap's house (one of many) as part of a new cinema system. A cool £300k all in. These people do exist.

And the Dalis? Unbelievable but then they should be at £85,000.

Edited by Spleen on Sunday 20th August 23:50

[911hope]

Baron Greenback said:

1400watt mono amp at £350k each https://www.whathifi.com/news/goldmunds-flagship-t... wonder who the target audience are for these amps? Willy waving or music studio or somethings else.

Very useful..will be twice as loud as 140w amp!

..which is twice as loud as 14W....

[robinessex]

Baron Greenback said:

1400watt mono amp at £350k each https://www.whathifi.com/news/goldmunds-flagship-t... wonder who the target audience are for these amps? Willy waving or music studio or somethings else.

Lovely. Just what you need for a pair of these:-





Oops, hang on, they're 6,000 watts each. Just have to buy 10 amps then, that should do it.

[Gary C]

Baron Greenback said:

wonder who the target audience are .

People who are very very far away

[98elise]

911hope said:

bhstewie said:

No strictly audio but an iInteresting experience looking for a HDMI cable for a newly purchased Apple TV 4K.

It's a foot from the TV so you'd think any cable of adequate construction would be fine and I work in a field where I know that petabytes of data is shifted over perfectly normal ethernet cables but I still found myself overwhelmed by the quantity of cables on Amazon at all manner of price points.

Ended up with a 50cm Kenable cable at £3.50 as it's officially certified and they're a sensible reputable brand but it's easy to see how people get suckered into some of this stuff

Marketing hdmi cables as having a performance advantage should be a criminal offence. It is a digital interface.

Likewise optical cables in audio.

Back in the early days Currys used to show fake demos of what cheap HDMI cables would look like. My father got conned into spending something like £50 for one, when I was buying them online for about £5.