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Looking for a Short High Quality HDMI Cable

I recently picked up a SACD player and am routing the signal into an external DAC. Transport signal out via HDMI to a D.Bob then DOP64  via coax to the DAC. True HDMI, not configured as I2S. I'm looking for a short good quality HDMI cable of less than a meter. For now I picked up a .6M Pangea off Amazon but looking for better. Audioquest makes .6 meter but for the Asian market only, and an eBay search comes up empty.  The Cable Company has a couple I wasn't sure about them, brand unknown, etc. Any recommendations?

Also, many HDMI cables are labeled eARC, is this something I need to avoid for this application?

jaybe
hbarrel's avatar
hbarrel
494 posts
 

Blue Jean +1

zx10
48 posts
 

I like Audioquest cables , it seems there are about 4-5 different qualities in shorter sizes on line. If you invest in a high quality SACD player the built-in DAC is excellent.

jaybe OP
817 posts
 

@hbarrel Thanks. See above.

@zx10 Same. I haven't found your DAC comment to be accurate. There was a major change routing to a DAC that went for 6x the cost of the player.

v-fi
241 posts
 

I've been trying out a whole bunch of HDMI cables lately for a dedicated headphone setup I am assembling. Using a Denafrips Gaia I2S out to a Denafrips Terminator 2. So far my results have been very mixed.

Tried several more affordable options from Pangea, Kimber, Analysis Plus, didn't care for them. 

Tried what I call mid priced cables from Wireworld and Cardas, didn't like them either. 

Tried some more expensive models from Wireworld and Audioquest, not really great or even a big improvement over the others.

I was starting to question whether the Gaia was worth using, and thinking maybe I should just go USB from transport to DAC. Then I hit on the DH Labs HDMI which is excellent. Eventually I found that I also really like the Voodoo Cable Silverstream, and both the Vodka and Thunderbird from Audioquest. 

I'm still experimenting, so far my conclusion is that HDMI I2S cables really matter and some are much better than others, also that price isn't always the main factor.

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