Is audioquest a ripoff or worth it?????????????????????

[mon2479]

I was talking to a Geek Squad installer about cables (cheap vs $$$$$$$$$$) and he was saying that audioquest is the best cables to get. "It may be all data being transfered through the cable, but how much data are you losing in the transfer??" Have you seen the audioquest diamond cable, HOLY GOD!!!!!! its all silver and costs $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ The installer tried a sample test with a ethernet cable(regular vs audioquest) and told me that audioquest pinged faster than your basic cable. Another test was with a movie, he was able to hear things he had never heard before in batman begins, think it was one of the cables that has some silver in it(cinnamon???, chocolate???, carbon???). Any thoughts people???????

[gadgtfreek]

Blue Jean Cable...

[MDRiggs]

Pinged faster? Really? It's all rubbish. Certain types of cables need to meet specific electrical requirements (RF, analog video, and coaxial digital audio need to have a 75-ohm characteristic impedance, for example), and others have characteristics that can be important under some circumstances. A length of speaker wire should have low series resistance relative to the speaker impedance and not have excessive inductance or capacitance -- requirements met by ordinary copper lamp-cord-type wire of appropriate gauge -- and for long runs of unbalanced line-level audio it's a good idea to use low-capacitance coax. Shielding should be adequate for the electromagnetic environment in which the cable will be used. That's about it. Silver is marginally more conductive than copper (which is more conductive than gold to a somewhat larger degree), but not by enough to matter in these sorts of applications. It certainly will not affect data loss or propagation speed. That's marketing way out ahead of the physics. Bill Low, the founder of AudioQuest, used to go around comparing a boombox hooked up with his cable to a component audio system hooked up with regular cable. He's a nice guy who I think, like many others, drinks his own KoolAid, and it's a tribute to something that he could convince grown men the boombox sounded better -- but it's still malarkey. Profit margins on specialty cable are huge relative to the margins on the stuff they hook together, TVs especially. Dealers therefore have a tremendous incentive to sell them. Wonder why that Blu-ray player came without an HDMI cable? Saves the manufacturer a little, but more important, it gives the dealer an opportunity to sell you a cable separately. If the price of that cable were baked into the price of the player, you might well have chosen a cheaper player!

[CALIBER]

A/V Jeff where are you on this one??

[AVJeff]

A/V Jeff where are you on this one??

Hehe, didnt see it.

Riggs is absolutely correct. All BS. Blue Jeans or MonoPrice way is the way to go.

[TWD]

Take it from a guy (fool) who thought that high priced HDMI cables made a difference. They don't. I recently did a test between the Audioquest Vodka, the Nordost Silver Screen, and a Hdmi cable that I bought from Monoprice for $5. I spent the better part of an evening switching between the cables trying to prove my belief that high priced HDMI cables make a difference. I couldn't tell any difference. I think the higher priced cables are built better with better materials, but it doesn't translate to improved performance.

[MDRiggs]

I think the higher priced cables are built better with better materials ...

Maybe yes, maybe no. For HDMI cables, there are only a handful of actual manufacturers, no matter how the stuff is branded. I remember visiting MIT Cables years ago. They bought all the actual cable from suppliers in Taiwan, then bolted boxes of electrical components to the ends. High-end cable is a weird business.

[vläd]

The ONLY time that I think that anyone will see a difference in a HDMI cable, is when they're running a 12' cable or longer. Any competently assembled HDMI 3- to 9-foot cable will be as good as any so-called high-end HDMI cable. But you can and will run into issues with longer runs.

My rule of thumb? 9-foot and down; hit Monoprice. Above 9-foot, start looking at Blue Jeans' Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair cable.

[gadgtfreek]

Not bad advice. I'm using BJC more because they are now amazon prime and they offer more length options.

[CALIBER]

The ONLY time that I think that anyone will see a difference in a HDMI cable, is when they're running a 12' cable or longer. Any competently assembled HDMI 3- to 9-foot cable will be as good as any so-called high-end HDMI cable. But you can and will run into issues with longer runs.

My rule of thumb? 9-foot and down; hit Monoprice. Above 9-foot, start looking at Blue Jeans' Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair cable.

I have a 50ft run, and I bought the cheapest fattest (22 awg) hdmi cable I could find on amazon. I don't see any issue's at all, and while my eye sight is pretty poor I get many many compliments on my pq. Not sure which is more important, so called quality or a heavier gauge.

[vläd]

Not sure which is more important, so called quality or a heavier gauge.

With Blue Jeans cable, those two go hand in hand.

[gadgtfreek]

Agreed. I like the shorter run bonded FE cable because they went with a smaller gauge and its very flexible and durable. Have not used their long run cables.

[SpHeRe31459]

Maybe yes, maybe no. For HDMI cables, there are only a handful of actual manufacturers, no matter how the stuff is branded. I remember visiting MIT Cables years ago. They bought all the actual cable from suppliers in Taiwan, then bolted boxes of electrical components to the ends. High-end cable is a weird business.

Good ol' BJC has an excellent write-up on this very thing.
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articl...-come-from.htm

[richard p]

Newbe here. I just wanted to add my .02 worth. Cables are indeed a weid buisness. In high end audio even the power cords have gotten weird. The rule of thumb I used to use was to budget 10% (using list prices) for cables. That being said, would I spend $5 on an hdmi cable connecting my $3000 tv? Probably not. Would I spend $30 on an hdmi cable for my $300 Magnivox tv? Probably not. In audio, the better the equipment, the more periferals make a difference. In I.T. we run band name cat 6e because of the quality contol in the cables and patch panels. I'm not saying to go insane and spend a small fortune, but I don't think you should go insane looking for the cheapest cable either.

[MDRiggs]

The rule of thumb I used to use was to budget 10% (using list prices) for cables. That being said, would I spend $5 on an hdmi cable connecting my $3000 tv? Probably not. Would I spend $30 on an hdmi cable for my $300 Magnavox tv? Probably not. In audio, the better the equipment, the more periferals make a difference. In I.T. we run band name cat 6e because of the quality control in the cables and patch panels. I'm not saying to go insane and spend a small fortune, but I don't think you should go insane looking for the cheapest cable either.

That's a lot to spend on cables, especially if the rest of the system is costly. In most cases, very ordinary cables work just as well as anything else. For normal-length HDMI runs, cheap is fine as long as it works -- it either does or it doesn't. This is why so many people buy from Monoprice.

[GOS]

I totally agree with that. I'm 100% Monoprice. Have I had cable failure? Yeah...maybe twice with HDMI. But, I only paid a couple bucks for them. For the most part - I have some cables that I paid little for and still work 5 years later. To me, that's just good economics.

That's a lot to spend on cables, especially if the rest of the system is costly. In most cases, very ordinary cables work just as well as anything else. For normal-length HDMI runs, cheap is fine as long as it works -- it either does or it doesn't. This is why so many people buy from Monoprice.