Out of curiousity i've just replaced the Chord Silver plus 1.3 I've been using to connect my Panasonic DMR-EX77 and Panasonic TX 32LXD70 TV with a generic HDMI cable. I can see no difference at all in picture quality, if anything the generic lead gives a better picture. When I connect the same leads to my Virgin V+ box and the TV the generic lead wins hands down, absolutely no contest. So is the Chord cable to good for my equipment or have I got a duff lead ? Or am I missing something somewhere
Can Cables Be Too Good ?
- Thread starter belker
- Start date
John Duncan
Well-known member
- Jan 8, 2008
- 2,034
- 30
- 19,720
Leads cannot be too good. To me their point is to be absolutely transparent, and if that highlights issues elsewhere then that's your components' problem, not the lead. This is not to say that a less transparent lead cannot make your system sound (for this applies more to sound than to vision) better, by smoothing out rough treble, for example.
Leads can, however, be too expensive.
(edit - of course, I contradict myself in paragraph one, but you get what I mean, I hope)
Leads can, however, be too expensive.
(edit - of course, I contradict myself in paragraph one, but you get what I mean, I hope)
timwileman
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2008
- 296
- 0
- 18,890
[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Leads cannot be too good. To me their point is to be absolutely transparent, and if that highlights issues elsewhere then that's your components' problem, not the lead. This is not to say that a less transparent lead cannot make your system sound (for this applies more to sound than to vision) better, by smoothing out rough treble, for example.
Leads can, however, be too expensive.
(edit - of course, I contradict myself in paragraph one, but you get what I mean, I hope)[/quote] totally agree with JD particularly about DVD to TV, my father has a cheapo HD ready TV and a cheapo DVD player (cant remember the make) and i swapped his cheap scart connection for a HDMI (generic) and HDMI (chord silver plus 1.3) and the step from scart to hdmi was easy to see but not between the 2 hdmi leads.... however on my pana th37px80 and toshiba ep30 you can see the difference between hdmi cables oops opened a huge can of worms............along will come someone in a min and tell me either 1) its a placebo effect (which is incorrect use of the term) 2) i am blind 3)i am mad 4) i ate too many hobnobs before the testing .............or the good ole one where i get flamed for spending almost 100 notes on a cables (in my case the cable was free from WHSAV so BOO to you and cheers to WHSAV)
Leads can, however, be too expensive.
(edit - of course, I contradict myself in paragraph one, but you get what I mean, I hope)[/quote] totally agree with JD particularly about DVD to TV, my father has a cheapo HD ready TV and a cheapo DVD player (cant remember the make) and i swapped his cheap scart connection for a HDMI (generic) and HDMI (chord silver plus 1.3) and the step from scart to hdmi was easy to see but not between the 2 hdmi leads.... however on my pana th37px80 and toshiba ep30 you can see the difference between hdmi cables oops opened a huge can of worms............along will come someone in a min and tell me either 1) its a placebo effect (which is incorrect use of the term) 2) i am blind 3)i am mad 4) i ate too many hobnobs before the testing .............or the good ole one where i get flamed for spending almost 100 notes on a cables (in my case the cable was free from WHSAV so BOO to you and cheers to WHSAV)
Mmmm - didn't notice any difference in sound between the leads, but the generic lead certainly had the upper hand in picture quality.
Incidentally this is the lead I'm comparing the Chord with http://ukhdmi.com/hdmi-premium.php, perhaps I'm doing it a dis-service by calling it "generic"
Incidentally this is the lead I'm comparing the Chord with http://ukhdmi.com/hdmi-premium.php, perhaps I'm doing it a dis-service by calling it "generic"
timwileman
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2008
- 296
- 0
- 18,890
[quote user="belker"]Out of curiousity i've just replaced the Chord Silver plus 1.3 I've been using to connect my Panasonic DMR-EX77 and Panasonic TX 32LXD70 TV with a generic HDMI cable. I can see no difference at all in picture quality, if anything the generic lead gives a better picture. When I connect the same leads to my Virgin V+ box and the TV the generic lead wins hands down, absolutely no contest. So is the Chord cable to good for my equipment or have I got a duff lead ? Or am I missing something somewhere[/quote]Act on what you see & hear yourself, instead of relying on others'. You see, you decide. If, in your place, I would see no difference between the two -for whatever reason- I'd keep the cheaper one and sell the other on ebay. It's no use keeping a cable that performs less in your current system, yet costs more. When you decide to upgrade to blu-ray and/or a larger tv, test again with some try out cables supplied by your local retailer.
Its also possible, that the generic lead is a good, well made HDMI compliant lead, in absolute zero need of upgrading...
And, maybe controversially, the branded lead, one of the companies lower end leads, and purposely manufactured to a lower standard, enabling them to be shown to improve with price. That however would be pretty low, and of course cant be the case.........
And, maybe controversially, the branded lead, one of the companies lower end leads, and purposely manufactured to a lower standard, enabling them to be shown to improve with price. That however would be pretty low, and of course cant be the case.........
John Duncan
Well-known member
- Jan 8, 2008
- 2,034
- 30
- 19,720
[quote user="fr0g"]Its also possible, that the generic lead is a good, well made HDMI compliant lead, in absolute zero need of upgrading...
And, maybe controversially, the branded lead, one of the companies lower end leads, and purposely manufactured to a lower standard, enabling them to be shown to improve with price. That however would be pretty low, and of course cant be the case.........
[/quote]
Interesting point actually - where does being built 'to a price' end? If, as some argue, it's not possible for an HDMI cable to be better or worse than another, does extra cost only include extra quality control, as opposed to extra quality?
Devil's advocate view only there, I know nothing about HDMI
And, maybe controversially, the branded lead, one of the companies lower end leads, and purposely manufactured to a lower standard, enabling them to be shown to improve with price. That however would be pretty low, and of course cant be the case.........
[/quote]
Interesting point actually - where does being built 'to a price' end? If, as some argue, it's not possible for an HDMI cable to be better or worse than another, does extra cost only include extra quality control, as opposed to extra quality?
Devil's advocate view only there, I know nothing about HDMI
Hello, I would contact the retailer that you purchased it from. They can send it back to Chord and have it tested to ensure that it is not faultly in any way and performing optimally. Hopefully they will send you a new one in the meantime too. A slight soldering defect during manufacture that was not picked up during quality control can affect HDMI performance significantly. Hope this helps. Kind regards, Darren
Hi (My first post so this may be the wrong entry route)
Im putting a system together at the mo. Onkyo 606, Hitachi 42pd9700, PS3, Wii, Kef 5005's, Laptop?
Ive got loads of ?. First, is there really much dif between HDMI cables? Maplins want £69 for 1m best or £25 standard. Ebay want £6 for 3m gold plated and fully guarantee them.
Laptop: will I see/hear any dif between PC or Applemac?
Regrettably I cant get Sky as I live on a semi static houseboat so the dish waggles around. So I hope to tune into internet TV. Or can I get BBCHD etc via a normal free to air aerial?
Most music is on laptop.
Im told the PS3 is as good as any stand alone DVD as its Blueray and you get to play games too!. True? Must say 007 looked good to me last night.
I can run wires to the kefs, but It would be simpler to use wi fi for the backs. Whats the pro's cons?
Am I missing anything?
Boater
Im putting a system together at the mo. Onkyo 606, Hitachi 42pd9700, PS3, Wii, Kef 5005's, Laptop?
Ive got loads of ?. First, is there really much dif between HDMI cables? Maplins want £69 for 1m best or £25 standard. Ebay want £6 for 3m gold plated and fully guarantee them.
Laptop: will I see/hear any dif between PC or Applemac?
Regrettably I cant get Sky as I live on a semi static houseboat so the dish waggles around. So I hope to tune into internet TV. Or can I get BBCHD etc via a normal free to air aerial?
Most music is on laptop.
Im told the PS3 is as good as any stand alone DVD as its Blueray and you get to play games too!. True? Must say 007 looked good to me last night.
I can run wires to the kefs, but It would be simpler to use wi fi for the backs. Whats the pro's cons?
Am I missing anything?
Boater
professorhat
Well-known member
- Dec 28, 2007
- 992
- 22
- 18,895
[quote user="Boater"]First, is there really much dif between HDMI cables? [/quote]
Depends who you speak to. In my experience my Chord cable gave a much better performance than the free one I got but others disagree. Only way to tell for yourself is to get one on a money back guarantee and try it out for yourself.
[quote user="Boater"]Laptop: will I see/hear any dif between PC or Applemac?[/quote]
Depends on a large number of factors!
[quote user="Boater"]Im told the PS3 is as good as any stand alone DVD as its Blueray and you get to play games too![/quote]
Hmm, don't think this is true, but it is a very good budget upscaling DVD / Blu-Ray player. You can get better results by spending more though.
[quote user="Boater"]I can run wires to the kefs, but It would be simpler to use wi fi for the backs.[/quote]
If you can run wires I would. You have to spend quite a lot extra to get decent performance with wireless rears so running wires works out a lot cheaper.
Depends who you speak to. In my experience my Chord cable gave a much better performance than the free one I got but others disagree. Only way to tell for yourself is to get one on a money back guarantee and try it out for yourself.
[quote user="Boater"]Laptop: will I see/hear any dif between PC or Applemac?[/quote]
Depends on a large number of factors!
[quote user="Boater"]Im told the PS3 is as good as any stand alone DVD as its Blueray and you get to play games too![/quote]
Hmm, don't think this is true, but it is a very good budget upscaling DVD / Blu-Ray player. You can get better results by spending more though.
[quote user="Boater"]I can run wires to the kefs, but It would be simpler to use wi fi for the backs.[/quote]
If you can run wires I would. You have to spend quite a lot extra to get decent performance with wireless rears so running wires works out a lot cheaper.
Yo Professor, Many thanks for that. I guess its complicated as youve skirted round PC vs Mac, but can you give me a few headlines?
Boater
Boater
I compared a 1m Ixos, 1m QED (both £50) and a budget 2m Belkin cable (£20) and a 2m Plexus HDMI cable which I dont know the price of. I used them to connect a PS3 and a Yamaha DVD player to my Samsung M87 40" LCD. As far as I could tell there was no difference between the Ixos QED and Plexus cables. The Belkin had very slightly paler colours when watching the DVD but I could notice no difference on the PS3. I cant really comment on the sound because my TV is connected to a stereo amp, so I had another analogue cable from my TVs stereo audio output hence making use of its DAC, and after all that everything sounds rubbish. This was really not what I expected, as I can easily tell the difference between optical and coaxial digital cables in my 5.1 setup. The main difference between the cables was the build quality, of which I thought the Ixos felt most solid, though I didnt look at the cables internal structure to save the pennies, so I would think twice about buying another dear one for that setup. In my experience, however, it is well worth forking out for good analogue cables, but I think views about this are unanimous.
professorhat
Well-known member
- Dec 28, 2007
- 992
- 22
- 18,895
[quote user="Boater"]I guess its complicated as youve skirted round PC vs Mac, but can you give me a few headlines?[/quote]
Well, I'm not really an expert on the PC vs Mac sound, but I guess the main considerations are what soundcard is in each and whether you're exporting the sound out via an external DAC or not. Also, the source of music will vary e.g. on the PC, you have various options such as using EAC to produce your digital music files, are you storing them in lossless format, if so which lossless format etc.
As I say, I'm not an expert on any of this, so your best bet would probably be to do a search on the Hi-Fi section of the forum for this sort of info and, if you can't find what you're looking for, start a new thread with the specific info you want and hopefully someone with more experience in this will be able to answer specific queries.
Well, I'm not really an expert on the PC vs Mac sound, but I guess the main considerations are what soundcard is in each and whether you're exporting the sound out via an external DAC or not. Also, the source of music will vary e.g. on the PC, you have various options such as using EAC to produce your digital music files, are you storing them in lossless format, if so which lossless format etc.
As I say, I'm not an expert on any of this, so your best bet would probably be to do a search on the Hi-Fi section of the forum for this sort of info and, if you can't find what you're looking for, start a new thread with the specific info you want and hopefully someone with more experience in this will be able to answer specific queries.
John Duncan
Well-known member
- Jan 8, 2008
- 2,034
- 30
- 19,720
[quote user="Boater"]Laptop: will I see/hear any dif between PC or Applemac?[/quote]
Music is fine. Either is going to have fairly average on-board sound, but you can equalise that by feeding the optical out (the headphone socket of the apple, and usually the same on a laptop, but check when buying) into the receiver.
Personally I'm not sure I'd use a laptop as a video source - depends how you spec either, but with average specs on both, the Apple will probably work better without effort since Vista is incredibly resource-hungry. I myself am investigating other OS's (like Ubuntu) to make my laptop run video better, but not getting very far.
Music is fine. Either is going to have fairly average on-board sound, but you can equalise that by feeding the optical out (the headphone socket of the apple, and usually the same on a laptop, but check when buying) into the receiver.
Personally I'm not sure I'd use a laptop as a video source - depends how you spec either, but with average specs on both, the Apple will probably work better without effort since Vista is incredibly resource-hungry. I myself am investigating other OS's (like Ubuntu) to make my laptop run video better, but not getting very far.
Similar threads
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram