Went into Maplins last night...

[CHR1S]

30m is way too long for an HDMI cable. At this length yes you will get degradation as you are beyond what is intended. You would be better of getting cheaper, shorter cables and an extender/repeater.

 

Tell a lie, I checked my order history they were 2 15m runs and even at this length I had the degradation issues.

[fiza]

£80? You're not trying hard enough. £2835.30

 

Nice price!!!

 

This is their justification for the price :

 

"Putting the price into context – our opinion

 

On the face of it, our Silver SuperKords may look very expensive, but put the cost of them into context. Say you have a system with a £5,000 CD player in it, which you love the sound of. But what happens when the upgrade bug bites? You might find that to upgrade your sound, you might need to invest in a player costing upwards of £10,000. Now, in our opinion, upgrading your £5,000 CD player’s mains lead to a Silver SuperKord SD II will bring about an even bigger upgrade than upgrading your player to the next model… and it’s cheaper. In that context, surely the Silver SD II SuperKords offer extremely good value for money?"

 

 

I was about to spend £10k on a CD Player. I wont bother now.

Edited July 4, 2013 by fiza

[Andrew_C]

So... at what point does this go from being acceptable advertising hyperbole to being straight up fraud?

Andrews is one side of that line. And has been told so by the ASA on at least one occasion. How he continues to get away with it baffles me.

[SteveBentley]

Must cost a bit to run that all the way back to the power station.

 

He'll sell you twin and earth to wire up a socket with back to the consumer unit, and a special separate consumer unit just for that circuit.

 

Somebody must believe this guff and buy the stuff, although I suspect at these prices you only need a couple of mugs per month to sustain a business.

[pcstru]

Not strictly true, over longer distances HDMI can artifact similar to a dying graphics card. On two 30m runs I had to return 4 cables to different manufacturers ranging from a few pounds to almost a hundred. In the end the middle of the road cables seem to perform better.

 

Sure, when it starts breaking down you can start to see artefacts (Generally error correction for digital audio and video makes stuff up, rather than asking the sender to resend). That's a different issue to someone being able to see the difference between two cables which are not introducing errors. The chap in RS was trying to persuade me that "colours were richer" and the "dynamic range" was "enhanced". All the usual hi-fi type bollocks.

 

As for analogue gold plated cables etc; it's very telling that manufacturers are not willing to put stuff up for proper double blind A-B-A type testing. Hi-Fi magazines don't conduct those kind of tests either (partly because equipment manufacturers won't then loan them gear to 'test'). Gold contacts are unnecessary and make no difference to the sound over and above a copper contact. They may have an advantage in not corroding but that happens very slowly over many years and is sorted in seconds with a bit of emery paper.

[X-13]

The chap in RS was trying to persuade me that "colours were richer"

 

I usually find that's an issue with the TV [if we're talking DVD/Bluray/HDTV] not being set up properly.

 

I had someone in [iIRC] a Sony store try to convince me to buy their most expensive TV because the "colours are better". ~5 minutes with the remote and the cheapest looked [almost] the same.

 

I bought neither and convinced someone to buy the cheaper one instead of the more expensive one.

[localzuk]

Tell a lie, I checked my order history they were 2 15m runs and even at this length I had the degradation issues.

 

Are they certified as HDMI $version compliant? ie. could you get hold of a compliance testing certicate to show that they were to spec.

 

My guess would be what you actually bought were 2 cables with HDMI connectors on the end, rather than standards compliant cables.

 

It also depends on what you're putting across it. Cheaper cables will display images ok at 720p and maybe 1080i but fail at 1080p, for example.

[localzuk]

£80? You're not trying hard enough. £2835.30

 

Put it up to a 2m lead and the price goes up to £4406.70, down from £4882. What a bargain.

 

You'd have to be insane.

[IrritableTech]

Just found this article published today, which is quite relevant to the conversation.

 

Is it worth splashing out on cables? - Features - Gadgets & Tech - The Independent

[sparkeh]

Ok perhaps a better restatement of the HDMI thing would be "If you are buying a standards compliant HDMI lead that is suitable for your application, there is no difference between a cheap and expensive cable".

[MikeGilbert]

The whole business of consumer grade products revolves around preying on those who don't know any better so they buy kit with useless or unnecessary features. Eventually it becomes normal to pay an absurd amount for a headset or cable.

Ah, Apple, how we love you...

[CHR1S]

Are they certified as HDMI $version compliant? ie. could you get hold of a compliance testing certicate to show that they were to spec.

 

My guess would be what you actually bought were 2 cables with HDMI connectors on the end, rather than standards compliant cables.

 

It also depends on what you're putting across it. Cheaper cables will display images ok at 720p and maybe 1080i but fail at 1080p, for example.

 

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004GW25WY/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

KanaaN 15 m High Speed Premium HDMI Cable - 3D - Fully shielded - HDMI 1.4 - 24 Carat Gold-plated Connectors - Full HD - 1080p: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002RC9UKU/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Ironically, they are MUCH cheaper almost a year later!!

 

Went with the KanaaN in the end as they were better quality (and £47 each at the time... gutted)

Edited July 4, 2013 by CHR1S

[Andrew_C]

Simple rule buying HiFi:-

 

Spend your money on "Moving Parts".

 

This used to mean turn-table and speakers; it now means speakers. There is no excuse for an average CD player or amp to sound poor in comparison with almost anything.

[pcstru]

Simple rule buying HiFi:-

 

Spend your money on "Moving Parts".

 

This used to mean turn-table and speakers; it now means speakers. There is no excuse for an average CD player or amp to sound poor in comparison with almost anything.

 

I'd pretty much agree with that. It also seems a little silly to me to get excited about the difference between 0.01% THD on an amp and 0.05% when the distortion of a typical pair of speakers is orders of magnitude greater. That said, the speakers do to a degree dictate the minimum specifications of an amp.

[CAM]

Doesn't a CD Player have moving parts?

[pcstru]

Doesn't a CD Player have moving parts?

 

Yes, but it gets rather silly to pretend they make much of a difference when the vast majority of units perform with extremely high accuracy and low error rates. Of course some ears may just be able to pick out the difference between a £37,000 Metronome Technologie Kalista Reference CD Transport and a £20 OEM unit in a brown cardboard box from PC world. In which case, treat those ones and zeros with the respect they deserve!

[CHR1S]

Build a bonkers hi-fi ? The Register

[hit]

OK, I think I may have it, Nordost ODIN Power Cord

1.25m @ £8,795.00

2.5m @ £12,695.00

5m @ £20,495.00

All with free P&P, how very generous of them

[sparkeh]

OK, I think I may have it, Nordost ODIN Power Cord

1.25m @ £8,795.00

2.5m @ £12,695.00

5m @ £20,495.00

All with free P&P, how very generous of them

Well it is delivered by Odin himself so its a bargain

[fiza]

OK, I think I may have it, Nordost ODIN Power Cord

1.25m @ £8,795.00

2.5m @ £12,695.00

5m @ £20,495.00

All with free P&P, how very generous of them

 

I think I have one of those 5 metre ones on my toaster.

Couldnt ask for better toast in the mornings.

[tmcd35]

I think I have one of those 5 metre ones on my toaster.

Couldnt ask for better toast in the mornings.

 

Ignoring the obserdity of the cable for a second - I'm trying to picture a scenario where you need the toaster to be 5m away from the mains socket? I'm guessing on a table next to the Lazy boy in the middle of the living room. Terrible thought having to move out the chair to make some toast - might actualy have to pause CoD on the 4k projection (sound wired through The Registers "Bonkers Build Hi-Fi" - of course)

 

 

EDIT: and yes the £20,000 custom build gaming pc is connected to the hi-fi using a gold plated, plantinum shielded, ant hair optical cable

Edited July 5, 2013 by tmcd35

[SteveBentley]

This all reminds me of the story of when CDs were first introduced and were dismissed by the so-called "golden ears" types would complain that digital quality was poor and could never match good quality analogue, highlighting Radio 3 as the pinnacle of audio quality. They went quiet when it was pointed out that what they'd been listening to on Radio 3 had, for the previous 10 years or so, been distributed from Broadcasting House to the transmitters digitally.

[samurl_]

Lol - Some of the persuasive language they try and use as in store techy/sales employees is hillarious.

[Andrew_C]

I'd accept that a "perfect" LP would technically produce "better" sound than a "perfect" CD. However, LPs were seldom perfect, even fresh from the cellophane sleeve, and they were almost immediately covered in dust that produced hiss, and electrostatic crackles. (Never mind the warped copy of my Beatles Red Double album ) Far more disruptive to my listening pleasure than quantization effects at 44.1kHz.

[pcstru]

I'd accept that a "perfect" LP would technically produce "better" sound than a "perfect" CD.

 

Why exactly?