Home audio & video forum: HDMI cables (cheap vs expensive) "Monster" vs no-name

I agree that Cables to Go is a good quality at a great price. I found this company that sells Cables to Go products at fraction the cost. Hope someone finds this helpful

<a href="http://www.techsourcepro.com/sections/items/?cat=73&sort=p" target="_blank">http://www.techsourcepro.com/sections/items/?cat=73&sort=p</a>

Gold Plating is less conductive then silver or tin there for it is better.

Now if your device doesn't have a gold adapter then your benefit is less but is still there.

The Cables quality is more important then the adapter quality but is still important

Adapter Specification: (Highly Recommended 2011)

Coax
RG-6 compatible COMPRESSION connecters

HDMI
Gold Plated 1.3/1.4 compatible


Ethernet
RJ-45 CAT7 compatible with GOLD tips

SATA III
Quality cables have a metal clip on the adapter

Cable Specification: (Highly Recommended 2011)

Coax RG-6/U or RG-6/UQ
(RG-6/UQ is higher quality and has Quad Shielding pervading better quality cable and higher durability)

HDMI 1.3 or 1.4
(1.4 is better quality and has a higher data transfer speed)

Ethernet Cat 6 or Cat 7
(Cat 7 has a wire shield pervading better quality cable and more durability also has a higher data transfer speed)

SATA III
(SATA III is better quality and has 2XSATAII data speed)

Gold plating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have a hard time figuring out what (other than 60HZ) your video/audio cables are trying to isolate you from. I have often wondered if Monster Cables are both consumer driven and over-kill priced.

Gold and silver are the top of the line. I am not sure if Gold really offers that much better performance over silver for price. Again it would be the difference in price between the two that i would wonder about. Unless Monster has lock-solid manufacturing quality, the cables are probably very simliar. Granted the $14 dollar one is not the way to go either.

you do know that silver is a better conductor than gold and there "should" have better signal transfer and thats why monster charges more for their silver plated models. Also one other thing that can effect price is if it is hand saudered. I know monster likes to add a good bit of price for that

besides the 60Hz AC power in your house... there is a whole slew of signals & power transmissions across the whole elecromagnetic spectrum that shielded cables protect your precious audio/video signals from. here is a reference sheet:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf

some freqs don't apply, but A LOT do.
Now granted most people don't live next to a radar tower or a radio tower or set their cordless phones right next to their AV receiver (etc etc)... but even running a microwave technically effects it.

Point to note:
GO DIGITAL & YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT

(ie: digital video (DVI/HDMI) & digital audio (probably optical audio))

I purchased the HDMI/DVI cable from an online vendor
for $15 for my Cox cable box and Pioneer Elite 1110.
The feed quality is the same as the $100 Monster brand. I returned the so called premium cable with fancy packaging and put the money to better use.

There is a definite difference in cable. Price isn't necessarily a good indication of quality, however, most good cables are expensive. These "good" cables allow music through an audio system (let's say), where lesser cables let the sound through. That is a very difficult concept to understand if you haven't experienced a) what real music sounds like in real space, and b) what cables can do. I have replaced 1000 dollar/a meter cable for 1000/dollar/meter cable and the difference was stunningly better. Some cables change the color of music (bright, bass heavy, metalic, silky, etc) some allow a 3 dimentionality to come through, some are flat, some allow the sound to extend beyond the speaker cabinet, some trap the sound behind the grill gloth. The only way to determine the validity of a cable is to try it in your system. See/hear what happens. If it gets somehow better, and the price difference is worth the difference, go for it. ALWAYS try the cable before buying. This poses another problem. Cable changes - breaks in with usage. When first you install a cable, it will perform WAY different after a month of working. and - OOPS - update your CD player and a cable you thought was really bad, now sounds really good. It's a search that will take you to Nirvana or the nut house. Enjoy!!

This is not true, this concept is pure hogwash!!!!
Monstor Cables are way, way, way, way over priced.
The DC resistance between gold and silver is so small it is not worth even talking about.
The big advantage of gold plating on the connector is that it won't tarnish, silver will tarish.
Yes; Bo$e and Monstor products are sold with a lot FUD!!!!! If you can't dazzle them with brilance baffle them with BULL. John

take a look at this site,it will help you: http://extratracker.yolasite.com/

monster vs. generic. any differnce

When it comes to hdmi cables, GPS is very important. Monster gets all their wires ISF certified and places the specs all on thier box. The reason that people can't see the difference in their picture is the fact that the tv is probably not really good enough to harvest all the capabilities the wire carries from the source.

Chances are if a salesperson put the monster HDMI cable and the no name brand in front of you and told you that you can have either one for the same price, you would probably take the Monster one.

The best question to ask yourself is "how important is picture quality to you"? chances are if you feel it is very important, then you probably are the customer that will shell out the extra few hundred to get the higher performing tv models. If you are that customer, then you will see the value in getting a monster HDMI cable.

The best way to buy cables is to stay within about a ten percent rule. While you cant get $7 component cables for a $70 dvd player, think of your whole system in general. Is it really worth buying thousands of dollars worth of cables for a basic HTIB, probably not.
The internet has many sites that deal with questions like this. One of the better places to learn is www.audioholics.com They have some good articles on how HDMI, DVI and standard RCA (audio, video, etc) cables measure up and what differences to look for.
Finally, what has always been most important to me is my perception of how they perform. The speaker cables I have cost about 25% of the cost of the speakers, but I can hear a tremendous difference (enough to keep them). Bottom line...that all depends.

Would you rather climb a cheap or good ladder?

Gold plated feces smell all the same. I'm talking about the Gratus ad Parnassum