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One of the best HDMI cable?

Could any member enlighten me on some of the outstanding HDMI cables? Thanks.
hunlaohun

Showing 3 responses by auxinput

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I use a 33 foot Redmere for my video processor to projector run.  I had to do this because another 23awg Beldon cable wasn't working.  Though, I don't know about using Redmere for short run or audio purposes.

That being said, I recently discovered that a lower cost Beldon cable was not performing properly.  A 5 foot Beldon Series FE cable that is supposed to be "Premium certified" to support 4K and 18Gbps bandwidth was actually smearing the sound when just using 1080p resolution and normal old compressed dolby digital.  I'm was originally using this Neotech cable:

http://audiosensibility.com/blog/products-2/digital-cables-occ-copper-and-occ-silver/#!/Neotech-NEHH-4200-HDMI-1-4-Cable/p/17895256/category=4059160

I went back to using this and it removed all the smeared audio effect.  Audio was crystal clear using this cable.  It's only just a "HDMI 1.4" certified cable, but it still is sonically superior to the Beldon.

One thing I have figured out here is that silver/silver-plated makes a significant difference for digital/hdmi cables.  The Wire World stuff may be better than my Neotech, but I haven't felt a need to go that direction yet.

auxinput
2,920 posts
 
You have to have really good eyes and ears to determine differences between HDMI cables because a lot of the time they are subtle.  However, there are differences between HDMI cables.  It can also be that your system is not able to reveal the differences.  If you are running a warming sounding system it is likely that you will never be able to tell the differences in sound between HDMI cables.  The same goes for the quality of the video display.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
ahhh, ok I get what you're saying.  And it's not "12S", it is "i2s".  (not one two s).  i2s is a way of transmitting raw 2-channel PCM data without having to encode it into an s/pdif data format.  It basically skips that step.  It is a prioprietary transfer method and the connections are different between manufactureres.  Some manufacturers use HDMI cable to connect this, but it is NOT an HDMI interface.  It only uses the cable to transmit a different type of signal.

In this situation, I can totally see where you would like the Tartan better.  It has two advantages here - it is made from pure copper (cheap copper, but still copper).  The Wire World Platinum has two problems.  1 - it is pure silver (which will affect the sound). 2 - it uses DNA Helix configuration, which is 2 x 26awg twisted wires to transmit each HDMI data pin.  This causes small timing problems because the two 26awg conductors are never going to be exactly the same length.  It could affect data and waveform timing / rise time.

The Tartan will definitely sound warmer because of these two characteristics.  If you are looking for a better HDMI cable for i2s that shares the Tartan approach, try a Purist Audio Design HDMI.  It uses much better copper - 24awg long grain copper conductors that are triple-shielded.
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