Just changing the source and not the input cable or vice versa may not yield as big of an effect as you'd want compared to having both the input and output cables changed since you aren't going directly from video source to your tv.
You can probably find an older Audioquest HDMI-3 used, it's likely using the same wire gauge (AQ hdmi cables aren't thick, probably 26-28 gauge) and the silver content is 6.1% to the Carbon's 5%. The only real difference I see is that the Carbon has actual carbon used to help the shielding and the hdmi-3 uses rf stoppers at each end for its' shielding help.There's actually an HDMI-3 on eBay now at $20 with no bids (though it ends in 4 hours you can ask if it will be re-listed if you don't read this in time, you can search under completed listings on eBay for ones you may have missed).In my tests the best hdmi cable that won't break the bank is the Ultralink Platinum Pro MKII, I mean it's not cheap (usually see them for around $99, luckily found mine for about a quarter of that), but it's comparable to pure silver hdmi cables that cost hundreds of dollars (similar sound and video signatures to silver). The Analysis Plus hdmi cable is also very good at $50 for 1 meter, the video is quite good (no silver in the wiring though so it's video is not quite as bright as some other premium hdmi cables that use more silver or super pure copper+some silver), but the sound quality is the real change.
You can probably find an older Audioquest HDMI-3 used, it's likely using the same wire gauge (AQ hdmi cables aren't thick, probably 26-28 gauge) and the silver content is 6.1% to the Carbon's 5%. The only real difference I see is that the Carbon has actual carbon used to help the shielding and the hdmi-3 uses rf stoppers at each end for its' shielding help.There's actually an HDMI-3 on eBay now at $20 with no bids (though it ends in 4 hours you can ask if it will be re-listed if you don't read this in time, you can search under completed listings on eBay for ones you may have missed).In my tests the best hdmi cable that won't break the bank is the Ultralink Platinum Pro MKII, I mean it's not cheap (usually see them for around $99, luckily found mine for about a quarter of that), but it's comparable to pure silver hdmi cables that cost hundreds of dollars (similar sound and video signatures to silver). The Analysis Plus hdmi cable is also very good at $50 for 1 meter, the video is quite good (no silver in the wiring though so it's video is not quite as bright as some other premium hdmi cables that use more silver or super pure copper+some silver), but the sound quality is the real change.