Size DOES matter!

[DarrenHW]

One of the things that appealed to me about the Oppo 105 was that it negates the need for many cables, I use RCA's to the power amp and sub, USB or RJ45 for FBA, HDMI in for Sky and HDMI out to the TV. Having recently moved the lounge around I was in need of a longer 8m HDMI cable for the TV, I'd done some research and the online consensus seems to be the usual "it's just 1 & 0's, any cable will do..." I had an el cheapo 5m HDMI cable, screened with gold plated plugs which enabled me to temporarily hook up the TV. I had planned on buying an 8m el-cheapo but curiosity got the better of me so I popped into my local friendly HiFi shop and borrowed a 5m Audioquest Pearl.

The difference was quite remarkable, more detail, better focus and not only was the picture more vivid but also brighter, so much so that I've reduced the TV's back light by ~15%. I was not expecting or hoping for these results and tried another el-cheapo 5m HDMI cable (again shielded and gold plated) which produced the same results as the other el-cheapo. Don't get me wrong I have no real brand loyalty and rarely believe that the price of an AV product is a true indication of it's capabilities, I'd quite happily have a ~£10 cable instead of a ~£100 cable but the Pearl was such an improvement I didn't want go back to the £10 cable.

When I first bought the Oppo I tried a number of HDMI cables for the TV (including an Audioquest Pearl) and noticed no discernible difference but at that stage I was only using 1m cables. With the Audioquest range all cables 5m and over are shielded, I can't say with any confidence whether the quality of the cable or plugs used makes any difference but would speculate that the difference is more down to build quality. One thing's for sure, the Audioquest is a far more transparent cable than either of the el-cheapo's, quite simply more data arrives intact, at least that's my explanation for the brighter image.

The 8m Audioquest Pearl retails at ~£130 (although I got a very generous discount on mine) and makes me wonder whether a better quality cable would pay for itself over it's lifespan. If the back light is reduced by ~15%, then this has to result in a significant reduction in power consumption, not to mention increasing the lifespan of the TV.

This has turned into a far longer post than I'd imagined it would but if you're still reading and using a 5m or longer HDMI cable, pop into your local friendly HiFi shop and see if they've got anything you can borrow, you might just be surprised.

[Firebottle]

Good advice Darren, is the Audioquest lead noticably thicker than the cheapo's?

Having experience with microwave equipment (very very high frequencies) it is as a general rule that you get lower losses with thicker cables.

[DarrenHW]

It is thicker, 5m Audioquest ~10mm, 5m el-cheapo ~8mm, 1m Audioquest ~6mm. However, I believe the internal wire is the same on both the 1m and 5m Audioquest cables and the difference in thickness is due to the shield, but I could be wrong?

Does the general rule of lower losses with thicker cable apply to all signal cable, interconnect, speaker cable, etc?

[Firebottle]

That's a fair difference between the Audioquest 1m and 5m to be just due to the shield.

General rule of thicker cable, yes, but with audio there are different materials and constructions that muddy the waters