The Truth vs Hype about Expensive HDMI Cables

[roadwarrior]

Reading about hifi or better video playback is just reading. The proof is in the pudding!

Actually the proof is in the science. This is what's actually in the pudding:

Ingredients

1/3

cup sugar

2

tablespoons cornstarch

1/8

teaspoon salt

2

cups milk SAVE $

2

large egg yolks, slightly beatenSAVE $

2

tablespoons butter or margarine, softened SAVE $

2

teaspoons vanilla

But I really, really, really, really like pudding!

 

[Observe]

Yes, in fact the material that the ingredients are mixed in, cooked in, served in make a lot of difference to how it all comes out to the eyes and taste! Happy dining.

 

[rojo]

I'm done here

This is the only thing you've said so far that's worth reading. Post supporting data or be done here.

 

[Pogre]

Lol. The whisk used to stir it can determine whether it comes out bright and harsh or warm and mellow...

 

[NINaudio]

And don't forget that the utensils will color the flavor of that filet...

 

[Observe]

kkk

 

[roadwarrior]

Lol. The whisk used to stir it can determine whether it comes our bright and harsh or warm and mellow...

Exactly my point. I cook the same thing over and over at least once a week and it's never tasted exactly the same twice. Equating taste buds and food recipes to HDMI standards makes absolutely no sense unless the packets are somehow getting corrupted from one end to the other the picture is the same.

I guess that's why the cable scammers label them chocolate and cinnamon. They know how powerful food analogies are. Good marketing doesn't mean any of its it's true. It just means they know the buttons to push on us sheeple. I'm so glad I'm not in retail anymore. It was affecting my IQ dealing with the general public on a daily basis and my IQ isn't one with alot of headroom to lose.

This is why we need to have more young people especially young girls getting interested in science and technology. I didn't until I was older and it's a big regret on my part but I'm trying to make up for it.

 

[panteragstk]

I'm starting to think exotic cable believers must also be flat-earthers. "Screw science" is kind of a weird motto.

 

[lovinthehd]

LOL the direction the observe troll tried hit a wall it seems, but amusing somewhat. I didn't realize how many more responses there were after reading his first few, so a persistent troll (or true believer, not sure which is worse).

 

[mtrycrafts]

I do agree no doubt that the prices of high quality is outrageous!

But what I am speaking to is the idea that the "quality", in this case audio and video resolution or fidelity and so that which is more "real", is not always something that can be measured.

Just because fidelity can't entirely be measured with devices, does not mean the senses of hearing and seeing are not valid measures of high quality audio and video reproduction. Add to that, that the aesthetics in general or even aspects of physics can be known but can't be explained fully. Discovering something new, unexpected or not what one wants to perceive, is exciting. That is one thing that makes audio and video playback so much fun. I love it! To share why it is so much fun for me or tell nudge someone who shares my interest in the subject is what being a member of forums like this are about.

The fact is, anyone with normal hearing and an adequate attention plan, who is not keeping a good dose of envy or malice secretly packed in their back pocket, they can and will see and hear a difference in a high end cable. Giving those senses more weight in the audio and video experience is absolutely worthwhile.
Specs in the form of numbers and manufacturers theories or descriptions about their products notwithstanding, are just part of the picture. One should rely on their senses in the end.. Yeah..because,
my eyes, ears, and observation and critical thinking skills are all that I am left with. They are real, not abstract like specs.

You are missing the facts and the point, totally.

Measurements tells us an awful lot and correlated extremely well with what we do hear and see.
The only issue is how you test audibility and visual acuity and that is where you seem to go astray.

Bias cannot be controlled, no on or off switch for it, period.
You need to control for this with double blind testing and with statistically significant guesses to be valid.
Sighted listening(knowledge of what component or wire you are listening at present) is useless to validate perception and fact finding for small differences, period.
So, you have no cats, no knowledge about proper testing to validate you belief as that is all you have at this time, not knowledge.
In the end, without this corroboration, your story is just another story.

 

[roadwarrior]

@mtrycrafts

https://media.tenor.co/images/8b1137419478572d0102e1bce845a0ad/tenor.gif

Stats, I meant stats !

 

[Speedskater]

There are many false or partly misleading claims about things that involve the senses. The question, Does the cable have "Premium HDMI Cable" certification? is probably misleading. Who determines what "Premium" means?

It's the group that sets the HDMI standards.
http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/premiumcable/Premium_HDMI_Cable_Certification_Program.aspx

 

[ahblaza]

Highly complex designs with a lot of science behind them...tell me the name of the scientist that are designing audiophile cables...if any cable manufacturer, writer, technician, etc. can identify such an audible design parameter that cannot be measured using available lab equipment or be described by known theory, I can guarantee a nomination for a Nobel Prize. You have been hood winked into thinking this and so continue to spend hard earned cash on special configuration wire that sounds no better then the anti cables that are nothing more then solid core wire,,certainly nothing high tech about that.

 

[mtrycrafts]

....and so continue to spend hard earned cash ....

Even if it was easily earned and has money to burn, what a waste. Charity is better.

 

[highfigh]

Belief is the important word that's used there. I am speaking of "rational", deliberate, analytical component in observation. Practicing observing aural or visual differences, like anything else, from plumbing to cooking, requires a set of techniques, vocabulary, and accumulated observations. The better practiced a person is at noticing things that happen in the sound and vision experience, the better the judgements about what the differences are and what makes them so.

Belief is different from preferences. Audio and visual awareness and critical thinking are acquired things.
Getting better at those things is not a bad thing. Knowing the difference between things is a developed ability, provided the acuity it there of course. Anything I have ever done, from furniture making to engineering music to gardening, has gotten better by practice. Who's against practice or getting better at something? (!)

Don't take this personally. This is just so. Cables that cost more than the $3 or $12 cable, and at a wild amount more than that, e.g. Audioquest Vodka or even Cinamon HDMI, are not make believe prices. They charge so much because they are that much better. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to make a high end cable, so many many hours and much experience is required. Blue Jeans or other higher price cables do not
have the expertise of the upper end of cable makers like Audioquest, Synergistic Research, Wireworld and others.

That's a load. The cheap ones work until they don't, but there are actual tests done to cables to make sure they can pass the signal sent by the source(s) and if a cable doesn't pass the EDID tests (in the lab or real world), you may have flickering/flashing picture, no picture, no sound and this may be constant or intermittent.

Most companies that sell cables don't make them, they have the cables made for them. The high-priced sellers can afford to add something to their cables, but they usually can't state the benefits in an objective way- it's always with some verbal flourish and a big loaf. Someone's HDMI cables sound better than another? Why? The audio is in digital format. The picture looks like it has finer grain? Not if the resolution is the same and all of the information is getting through both/all that are being compared. You're more likely to see lagging, judder and other problems.

 

[highfigh]

So you think that people, like me, who pay $300, $500, $1,000 for cables are not hearing or seeing what they do? Sounds like they may have a mental disorder. What other consumer experience or experience with the senses is like that? Is filet mignon overpriced? Are top of the line cars from BMW or Mercedes
overpriced and the owners are hypnotized. Are not the differences between high priced and low priced things not perceptible by people?

Sound, taste, smell, vision, touch can all be heightened and a deeper awareness of them acquired. Do you not believe that?

Read the definition of 'confirmation bias'. If you want to hear or see the difference, you usually will. If someone told you what you would see, you have ben conditioned to see whatever it was, that they told you. This is used in sales and has been, for a long, long, time. This is usually followed by "You didn't hear/see that?" when the customer says something about "Let me see/hear it again". The result is 'Why yes, I did hear/see the difference- do you have it in plaid or paisley?".

If you really think your cables make that kind of difference and you can afford to pay the premium, go ahead but there's a word for the practice of making claims that can't be proved when selling something- 'fraud'.

 

[highfigh]

You know what's funny? I was a butcher for 30 years and imo, filet mignon is definitely overpriced and you'll be lucky to get a package of nice, center cut filets in a typical grocery store. If I'm in the mood for steak, I'd much rather eat a ribeye. It's generally almost half the price and actually tastes a lot better than filet mignon. Filet has no flavor, it's just tender.

So yes, it's definitely overpriced (imo, ime). As long as people will keep paying that price for it tho, the industry will keep selling it. Filet is overrated.

I think NIN covered cars...

Fat is flavor.

 

[highfigh]

You are over three years late to the party.

But nothing has changed WRT BS claims vs truth and the the fine folks at the HDMI Consortium coming up with new and better ways to make our lives a living hell.

I went to Yamaha training last week and the guy didn't have much good to say about HDMI. In fact, I don't remember the last time a manufacturer said anything positive about it- since the beginning, they have usually told us to turn off CEC because it just doesn't work when an AVR is used, for most installations. With a sound bar it's fine (sometimes).

If anyone thinks they're done stirring the pot, guess again- next up- 8K. They have done it in Japan and it WILL come to the US and the rest of the World.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...

If anyone thinks they're done stirring the pot, guess again- next up- 8K. They have done it in Japan and it WILL come to the US and the rest of the World.

Really? 32 megapixels? WOW, good thing I was holding off for that 4K.
Maybe should wait for even more?

 

[mtrycrafts]

.... The picture looks like it has finer grain? ...

Did he really say that? I didn't read all his nonsense; creates a migraine.
So, a cable is able to modify the digital signal without any added parts in that cable, no upconversion?
WOW, that is real magic indeed. Who needs 4K or 8K when a cable can do that for much less? Give them a Nobel.

ps. if it only "looks like" due to imagination, I guess I don't need to upgrade to 4K or 8K, I can already see it with a standard HDMI cable. Yes, I have unlimited imagination. I can also hear Atmos without the necessary gear and software. LOL