I was wrong about HDMI cables!

[BenLaw]

Thanks for the info duaplex Obviously I remain skeptical about your reported changes and your wife's awareness of any testing, but I don't think we'll be able to take it any further, and I'm pleased that you've found an improvement for a modest outlay

 

[CnoEvil]

I would politely ask that it is now time to back off Duaplex, who reported what he heard, hasn't spent a fortune, has been backed up by people who have heard the same cable and is not insisting that anyone follow suit without trying for themselves.

I know from experience that there is nothing that he can say that will convince the sceptics of what he has heard, and the counter argument has now been clearly made......so further ganging up on him serves little purpose.

I'm not going to comment further on this.

Cno

 

[Sliced Bread]

Thanks for the info duaplex Obviously I remain skeptical about your reported changes and your wife's awareness of any testing, but I don't think we'll be able to take it any further, and I'm pleased that you've found an improvement for a modest outlay

Yep thanks duaplex for reporting.

 

[abacus]

My previous cable was £14 this one is £40. Even if this cable made no difference, I would still be happy with it, purely from a build quality perspective and the fact it fits and stays in its HDMI port.

I think that sums it up, it appears your £14 cable did not meet even the basic HDMI Specification (Otherwise it wouldn’t fall out or be a poor fit) and that’s the only reason you notice a difference, however correctly made HDMI cables (£5 or £200) will produce NO difference in picture or sound.

Bill

 

[Sliced Bread]

I would politely ask that it is now time to back off Duaplex, who reported what he heard, hasn't spent a fortune, has been backed up by people who have heard the same cable and is not insisting that anyone follow suit without trying for themselves.

I know from experience that there is nothing that he can say that will convince the sceptics of what he has heard, and the counter argument has now been clearly made......so further ganging up on him serves little purpose.

I'm not going to comment further on this.

Cno

Exactamondo.

 

[davidvann]

hear hear cno,they say a bees should'nt be able to fly but they do,is it not possiable that some hdmi cables work better than others.as i said in my eairler comment for those who dont beleive ,give a go see if you could borrow one from a shop.To give you guys an idea i being looking at hifi company on line who sell cd dvd cleaner,which you spray the cd/dvd on both sides and gently rub with your finger,when we buy a new cd /dvd and you take it from the case it looks perfectly clean ,so i thought give a go,it wasnt cheap £43 pounds ,i didnt think it would work ,but how wrong was i, cd sounded like there was another layer of music there i was gob smacked,and on blurays there was greater detail on picture and sound.There are some good guys out who dont want to rob you of your hard earned cash,i'm not saying this cleaning fluid will work for everyone,but it gave great results. isn'nt this what we all try to achive to get the best out of are systems ,if you dont try we wont know.cheers david

 

[BenLaw]

they say a bees should'nt be able to fly but they do

Not really they don't: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee#Flight

is it not possiable that some hdmi cables work better than others

Yes, but not in the sense of deeper blacks, better soundstage etc.

hifi company on line who sell cd dvd cleaner,which you spray the cd/dvd on both sides and gently rub with your finger,when we buy a new cd /dvd and you take it from the case it looks perfectly clean ,so i thought give a go,it wasnt cheap £43 pounds . . . on blurays there was greater detail on picture and sound.

Do you have a link to this product? Is there an explanation as to how it is said to work?

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Yes, but not in the sense of deeper blacks, better soundstage etc.

Remember those old clothes washing powder ads "whiter than white"??

Do you have a link to this product? Is there an explanation as to how it is said to work?

Same way as sticking new DVDs, BluRays, CDs, etc. under the tap with a bit of hairylipsquid - the detergent removes any residual lubricants from the stamping / pressing /. packaging process, not to mention the greasy fingerprints of the burger-eating "yoof" that put the disc, removed for security reasons, back in the packaging at the shop.

 

[fr0g]

Yes, but not in the sense of deeper blacks, better soundstage etc.

Remember those old clothes washing powder ads "whiter than white"??

Do you have a link to this product? Is there an explanation as to how it is said to work?

Same way as sticking new DVDs, BluRays, CDs, etc. under the tap with a bit of hairylipsquid - the detergent removes any residual lubricants from the stamping / pressing /. packaging process, not to mention the greasy fingerprints of the burger-eating "yoof" that put the disc, removed for security reasons, back in the packaging at the shop.

You do realise that the only difference cleaning a disk will make is to help prevent dropouts and quite obvious gliches. It can have no effect whatsoever on bass, treble, blacks, whites, colours whatsoever (other than the complete loss of all of them)

Unless there really is a tooth fairy, and I was wrong all along.

 

[davidvann]

i cant give you a link but can give you the name and where i bought it from,it's called L Art du Son and i bought it from.www.analogueseduction.com hope that helps.if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work.cheers david

 

[BenLaw]

Yes, but not in the sense of deeper blacks, better soundstage etc.

Remember those old clothes washing powder ads "whiter than white"??

I do. But it's a false analogy, and has no relevance to this argument. Washing powder undoubtedly does have the quality of cleaning cloths: making them whiter. The phrase is then hyperbole / marketing puff suggesting it performs that function really well. Any claim by a manufacturer that hdmi cables produced deeper blacks would be a false claim, because they do not have that quality. As someone else already posted, it seems manufacturers do not make this claim themselves, knowing that they could not defend an ASA complaint.

Do you have a link to this product? Is there an explanation as to how it is said to work?

Same way as sticking new DVDs, BluRays, CDs, etc. under the tap with a bit of hairylipsquid - the detergent removes any residual lubricants from the stamping / pressing /. packaging process, not to mention the greasy fingerprints of the burger-eating "yoof" that put the disc, removed for security reasons, back in the packaging at the shop.

What fr0g said. I've experienced this just now in fact, trying to watch a disc with some sort of imperfection on it. The disc froze, skipped and blocked. It did not continue but with paler colours than the seconds before.

 

[BenLaw]

i cant give you a link but can give you the name and where i bought it from,it's called L Art du Son and i bought it from.www.analogueseduction.com hope that helps.if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work.cheers david

Thanks. This is the link: http://www.analogueseduction.net/cd-cleaning-and-care/lart-du-son-cd-dvd-cleaning-fluid.html

The website says this: 'We have performed tests with multiple discs (one left untreated and the others treated with one of a few different fluids), where we listen to the untreated disc and then the treated ones, and in every case the l’Art du Son gave the best results in terms of transparency, dynamic agility, and a sense of organic smoothness and lack of fatigue more often associated with analogue disc playback. '

Their background appears to be in vinyl cleaning which (from what little I know about vinyl) I guess has some legitimacy. But can you suggest why cleaning a CD would result in 'a sense of organic smoothness'? And what could this achieve that normal cleaning could not?

You say 'if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work'. I take a rather differen view, bearing in mind we are talking about hifi products. If people are not willing to put their head above the parapet and take the ridicule which I and others get on here, then scammers will continue to exploit the naive.

 

[Overdose]

Does a cable that had exactly a 1-bit per billion error rate, have exactly the same error rate when stuffed under the hi-fi rack, curled up and crossing several power cables, a power block, speaker cables and interconnects many many times over in very close proximity as most of us stuff the cables out of site. .

A valid question, but then I would imagine that someone paying a lot of money for any type of cable, is the sort of person that is rather particular regarding its routing in the system and would avoid the above situations at all costs.

 

[fr0g]

i cant give you a link but can give you the name and where i bought it from,it's called L Art du Son and i bought it from.www.analogueseduction.com hope that helps.if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work.cheers david

Have you ever tried to reach the end of a rainbow to get the pot of gold?

If not, why??? How do you know it isn't there if you haven'tried it?

No need to reply. It's obviously a rhetorical question.

 

[BenLaw]

i cant give you a link but can give you the name and where i bought it from,it's called L Art du Son and i bought it from.www.analogueseduction.com hope that helps.if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work.cheers david

Have you ever tried to reach the end of a rainbow to get the pot of gold?

If not, why??? How do you know it isn't there if you haven'tried it?

No need to reply. It's obviously a rhetorical question.

He's not alone! :O

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue27/liquid_resolution.htm

 

[Frank Harvey]

I had been testing out a more expensive HDMI cable over the past few months, and I'd recently put my normal one back in (Chord Active Silver Plus). I had meant to try a few familiar Blurays but didn't get round to it last week. Now too much time has passed, so I think I'll need to loan it again...

I was recently talking to Audioquest and they tell me they won't willing.y use any 'active' components in their HDMI cables as their testing found that it actually degraded quality. I haven't been into the details of this yet, but I'm just passing that on for those who are interested. If I recall correctly, Audioquest are working on longer cable runs that won't need an active component in order for it to work properly.

Whats your opinion on this David, as a man that works in this sector.

On which aspect?

 

[abacus]

Why does everyone assume that because somebody posts that cables don’t make a difference, that they have never tried it out, I am sure most of them have and still cannot hear any difference no matter what the so called audio video gurus say. (As for the explanations that they give, then even a 1st year student would be rolling all over the floor laughing at the rubbish that manufactures were trying to con the public with)

Still, if folks want to spend money on placebos then good luck to them, however I’ve got better things to spend it on. (That does make a difference)

BFN

Bill

 

[duaplex]

Thanks Cno and Slicedbread

 

[duaplex]

I had been testing out a more expensive HDMI cable over the past few months, and I'd recently put my normal one back in (Chord Active Silver Plus). I had meant to try a few familiar Blurays but didn't get round to it last week. Now too much time has passed, so I think I'll need to loan it again...

I was recently talking to Audioquest and they tell me they won't willing.y use any 'active' components in their HDMI cables as their testing found that it actually degraded quality. I haven't been into the details of this yet, but I'm just passing that on for those who are interested. If I recall correctly, Audioquest are working on longer cable runs that won't need an active component in order for it to work properly.

Whats your opinion on this David, as a man that works in this sector.

On which aspect?

Difference in HDMI cables, have you seen one perform better than another?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Well I have definitely seen one produce flecks of what I suppose could be called sparklies. Why this was I don't know - it could be an incompatibility thing or a cable not up to spec, but another cable worked fine. As I have mentioned, I have been trying a cable out, but it has been too long since placing my existing HDMI back into the system that I really need to borrow it again. The first film I watched after placing the cable back in sounded a little dull, but I need to try more films in order to make sure I was hearing what I think I heard.

 

[duaplex]

Yes, I have seen that before. When watching Dredd in 3D I notice it in scenes where it's dark(old cable) I will try watching it again with the new cable. Of course this could be a bad transfer of the film itself or just the 3D.

Another cable I liked, purely from a practical perspective is the van den hul 180, because it can bend at a 90 angle and plug into those awkwardly positioned HDMI ports, without placing too much pressure on the port.

Keep us posted

 

[relocated]

i cant give you a link but can give you the name and where i bought it from,it's called L Art du Son and i bought it from.www.analogueseduction.com hope that helps.if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work.cheers david

Thanks. This is the link: http://www.analogueseduction.net/cd-cleaning-and-care/lart-du-son-cd-dvd-cleaning-fluid.html

The website says this: 'We have performed tests with multiple discs (one left untreated and the others treated with one of a few different fluids), where we listen to the untreated disc and then the treated ones, and in every case the l’Art du Son gave the best results in terms of transparency, dynamic agility, and a sense of organic smoothness and lack of fatigue more often associated with analogue disc playback. '

Their background appears to be in vinyl cleaning which (from what little I know about vinyl) I guess has some legitimacy. But can you suggest why cleaning a CD would result in 'a sense of organic smoothness'? And what could this achieve that normal cleaning could not?

You say 'if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work'. I take a rather differen view, bearing in mind we are talking about hifi products. If people are not willing to put their head above the parapet and take the ridicule which I and others get on here, then scammers will continue to exploit the naive.

All the words to get ones expectation centres to work overtime. The killer being ANALOGUE disc playback. We know why cd was bad-mouthed in the early days, it was because of the inability of amplifiers to reject the electrical hash emitted by early dacs yet this BS about analogue sound still persists. Brilliant idea to rub a cleaning 'magic bean' fluid in with your finger, surely I have read that wrong or the poster is just winding us up????

I absolutely despair.

 

[Sliced Bread]

Does a cable that had exactly a 1-bit per billion error rate, have exactly the same error rate when stuffed under the hi-fi rack, curled up and crossing several power cables, a power block, speaker cables and interconnects many many times over in very close proximity as most of us stuff the cables out of site. .

A valid question, but then I would imagine that someone paying a lot of money for any type of cable, is the sort of person that is rather particular regarding its routing in the system and would avoid the above situations at all costs.

I'm afraid I'm guilty :doh:
It''s terrible under my rack.

 

[BenLaw]

i cant give you a link but can give you the name and where i bought it from,it's called L Art du Son and i bought it from.www.analogueseduction.com hope that helps.if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work.cheers david

Thanks. This is the link: http://www.analogueseduction.net/cd-cleaning-and-care/lart-du-son-cd-dvd-cleaning-fluid.html

The website says this: 'We have performed tests with multiple discs (one left untreated and the others treated with one of a few different fluids), where we listen to the untreated disc and then the treated ones, and in every case the l’Art du Son gave the best results in terms of transparency, dynamic agility, and a sense of organic smoothness and lack of fatigue more often associated with analogue disc playback. '

Their background appears to be in vinyl cleaning which (from what little I know about vinyl) I guess has some legitimacy. But can you suggest why cleaning a CD would result in 'a sense of organic smoothness'? And what could this achieve that normal cleaning could not?

You say 'if people are not prepared to try products ,nothing will ever work'. I take a rather differen view, bearing in mind we are talking about hifi products. If people are not willing to put their head above the parapet and take the ridicule which I and others get on here, then scammers will continue to exploit the naive.

All the words to get ones expectation centres to work overtime. The killer being ANALOGUE disc playback. We know why cd was bad-mouthed in the early days, it was because of the inability of amplifiers to reject the electrical hash emitted by early dacs yet this BS about analogue sound still persists. Brilliant idea to rub a cleaning 'magic bean' fluid in with your finger, surely I have read that wrong or the poster is just winding us up????

I absolutely despair.

Not winding us up I'm afraid, some googling revealed someone else saying the same thing, so I assume it's in the instructions. Unfortunately I couldn't find an image of the back of the bottle to see what the ingredients were, maybe someone can help us? For more despair / a laugh read the comparative review I linked to of this and similar products. This is on a par with the green pen, which I believe had many supporters at the time but now seems to be generally accepted as nonsense. I wonder why / how long it takes for people to come to their senses on these products?

 

[davidvann]

hi all,im not trying to wind anybody up,i saying that i had a good result with product,i just try to stay opened minded and prepared to give something a go.im not saying go out and buy it ,im just saying that people have diffrent experiences with diffrent products ,some good and bad.maybe your right i dont see or hear any changes,maybe i like to come on this site to have people put my finds down to being rubbish.have a look at russ andrews web site,that man has spent years of trying to improve sound and vision,he also has cd cleaning products ,if you look at the reviews that,people have given,they all seem to say how the product has worked for them for a modest outlay.