FORUMS
I know this is opening up a can of worms but sometimes I just can't help myself!
I've been doing a fair amount of reading lately about HDMI, Optical and Digital Coaxial cables. My sources involved, predominantly, electrical engineers to see what a more scientific approach to this might be, as opposed to the more subjective feedback one can usually expect from a bevy of videophiles, audiophiles and cable manufacturers that cater to said crowd. Without boring you all to tears with all the integral details, there seems to be a very clear consensus amongst the science heads, some of whom are audiophiles and videophiles themselves. That clear consensus is that, as long as you are comparing cables of reasonably good manufacturing quality, in controlled circumstances for the applications involved and lengths one would expect audiophiles and videophiles to use in conventional home entertainment systems, the following axioms hold true.
HDMI cables all do the same thing and it makes, effectively, no sense to spend hundreds, much less thousands, of dollars on an HDMI cable when a $10.00 cable will perform virtually the same. A few science heads, however, did offer a small proviso to this axiom, stipulating that it was theoretically possible for some people with the proverbial golden ears to hear or, rather, feel infinitesimally small, negligible measurements in audio transmission from one cable over another. Even so, none of them thought it made any cost-effective sense whatsoever to pay much more than a few extra bucks over a standard HDMI cable for that small of a perceived enhancement.
With regard to Optical or Fiber Optic cables, there was/is the same strong consensus amongst the science heads, including the same small proviso about measurable audio signal transmission differences. Here, my sense, based upon those whom I've read, seemed to insinuate it was/is comparatively more likely for some golden ears to discern such measured audio transmission differences than it would be in HDMI cables but, again, they said such differences would be ever so slight and very likely beyond most people's ability to hear or feel. Regardless, they seemed more willing to accept the rational for spending a few extra bucks above and beyond a basic Optical.
With regard to Digital Coaxial cables, there was, again, clear and strong consensus amongst the science heads. However, unlike that for HDMI and Optical cables, there was quicker willingness to accept the rational for spending more bucks on theoretically "better" cables here but not that much more. Here, too, all things considered (i.e. controlled conditions), the consensus seemed to be that spending hundreds & thousands on cables like this would be foolish. The argument, here, seemed tantamount to the proverbial and perpetual debate over speaker cables.
Have at it, peanut gallery!
