Hdmi (I2s) upgrade


I have a Pangea Premier SE HDMI cable that I use between my transport (Jays cdt2 mk.II) and my DAC ( Holo Audio Spring 2 KTE Edition). Although the cable sounds very good, what other HDMI cable under $500 would give me a noticeable improvement. I was considering the Audioquest Diamond HDMI cable.
thanks
John
cavy
The Revelation Audio Labs could be a very nice cable.  Be aware that it is an i2s cable only!!  It does not have all the conductors to support a normal HDMI source, such as bluray.  Also, they do not publish the awg size of these conductors.  Pure silver cables can be an improvement, but it can also tilt your system to be too bright/cold sounding.  It's a system synergy thing.

For other cable recommendations, here is my list from lowest (budget) to highest (always get 2 meter minimum!!):

1. Neotech NEHH-4200 HDMI cryo-treated and sold by Audio Sensibility in canada.  The best budget cable (under $100 for 2 meters).  It's 26awg solid core silver-plated OFC copper.  Excellent for the money!!

2. Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 - I have not tested this cable.  It uses larger 24awg silver-plated conductors which will give the sound more oomph on the bass and body.  The Neotech above is cryo-treated, so the Neotech may give a higher resolution and cleaner sound, but not as much bass power as this Ultravioelt.

3. Wireworld Starlight 5-2 - These are the older series cables from 2009 or so, but they have beat out many other modern cables.  Uses 24awg silver-clad (a heavier silver plating) with solid core OFC conductors.  You can find these used on ebay for various prices.  Usually you can find a 2 meter for under $200, but there are a number of them from Japan sellers for a lot higher (if you're desparate).

4. Nordost Heimdall 2 - Much more expensive at $800 retail for 2 meter, but excellent resolution and audio quality.  This uses just very slightly smaller 25awg conductors.  The bass is not quite as strong as the larger awg cables, such as Starlight 5-2, but the overall sound is cleaner.

5. Nordost Valhalla - the absolute best HDMI cable you can buy (I've tested this), but $4k retail for a 2 meter.
I am also interested in the Revelation Labs Reference HDMI cable. A lot of great reviews in spite of some earlier problems with delivery timing which apparently have been corrected.
Hey there.  I'm actually tried an Audioquest Vodka and was totally unimpressed for sound quality, so I'm not sure that I would try the Diamond.  The problem with Audioquest is they use such a small gauge (it was 30awg on my 2 meter Vodka), so the sound comes across thin and bright.

I know this is stretching your budget ($599), but I would probably go for a Nordost Heimdall 2 HDMI for audio quality (and make sure to burn in for about 250-300 hours).

If you look at usaudiomart, there's a guy selling a 0.6 meter Wireworld Platinum 7 HDMI for $325.  Some people have reported that it's awsome, but I tested the Silver Starlight 7 HDMI and it wasn't the absolute best in audio.  I don't know if the pure solid silver of the Platinum makes any difference, but it uses 2 x 26awg wires for the main HDMI signal conductors which can cause timing issues because the length of those two wires could vary.