Cables aren’t all the same in my opinion, but I spend less time comparing that sort of thing nowadays and focus on more important things.
I’m not fully convinced HDMI cables are all the same, after owning an AudioQuest Diamond model from the previous range. Nothing really for most people to worry about though, as again, there’s more important things to address in systems. But I have learned that cheap HDMIs break. I’ve had two separate issues with cheaper cables, and zero from AudioQuest cables over the years. A well made, good quality one is all that’s needed for most systems, and if someone is putting together a sub £1k or £2k AV system, spending loads on HDMIs is the last thing you should be doing. The speaker cables are the most important cables in an AV system.
Having owned budget DVD, Bluray, and 4K players, as well as higher end ones, they’re different, in my opinion. The biggest difference was DVD players. Pre HDMI, video signal processing and integrity was an art form, which could easily be ruined and interfered with. Some players looked more like VHS than DVD. My best ones I had were my Pioneer DV-737 and Sony DVP-S7700.
Bluray players were closer in performance, but differed wildly with picture processing, so playback of DVD discs was great on some, and abominable on others. My best one was my Sony BDP-S5000es, especially for DVD playback, and Oppo BDP-103, which I had some amazing images out of for Bluray back when I had a projector, partly due to the picture processing and control.
As far as 4K players go, they will be even closer in performance with regards to 4K, but will differ when playing back Bluray and DVD discs because of the quality of upscaling. My first Sony UBP-X700 was a decent 4K player, pretty good for Bluray, but not very good for DVD. The UBP-X800m2 I replaced it with is certainly better built, far quieter, and plays DVDs and Blurays much better. I’ll look at the Reavons at some point.
I don’t like Samsung or LG screens, and just stick with Sony nowadays. My brother is jealous of how colour looks far more natural on my TV than his Samsung. My current XH9505 looks amazing, and I’m looking forward to next gen OLEDs once I know there are zero screen burn issues.
If my player has a separate HDMI purely for audio output, I use it, and plug the picture directly into the TV. I always try and keep them separate.
With AV receivers, each model might have a little more power, which could help when using certain speakers, but yes, they’re all pretty much the same from a quality point of view. Features and channel count are the main differences when moving through a range. Sometimes different DACs on higher models.
Personally, and I recommend this to anyone who seeks my advice, stick to 5.1 and concentrate on getting the best 5.1 system you can. A 5.1 system with better quality speakers (and suitable amp) will sound far better than the same budget spread over twice the amount of speakers and a lesser amplifier. You’re then free to explore Atmos at a later date if you wish, and you’ll have a better quality base layer of speakers to work with, and therefore, end up with a better sounding system. With Atmos, do it properly, or don’t do it at all.
8K TVs will be a waste of money, unless you’re looking at huge 100”+ screens with excellent upscaling. And of course, as long as you don’t watch standard def broadcasts and DVDs, which will look bloody awful. DVD was a standard back when 28/32” screens were common.
Wired is always better than wireless. If you can wire it, do so.
Disc players read a digital signal and have to get it to the amplifiers processor untarnished. That’s a fair journey, so there’s plenty of potential for degradation or interference somewhere along that path. It’s all down to whether an individal believes “digital is digital” or not. Personally, I’m not convinced it’s a bulletproof signal.
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