The Truth About “High-End” Cables?

Although marketed as a performance enhancer, many view high-end cables as the snake oil of consumer electronics.

So you’ve just spent a bundle on a new HDTV or a home theater system. You’re about to head for the register, and the salesperson suggests that since you’ve invested so much in your system, it needs expensive cables to give you optimal performance.

If visions of rust-proofing and high-end floor mats come to mind, you may be on the right track. Ever since Monster Cable started operations decades ago, the myth that “more expensive cables are better” has been heavily promoted to the A/V consumer. It’s true that we should all avoid poorly-made cables, but whether there’s anything out there that will give you better performance than, for example, Radio Shack’s “gold” cables, has yet to be proved. Years ago, Stereo Review magazine (now Sound and Vision) did a true double-blind study of premium cables. A few of their testers discerned a very slight difference between cables, but no improvement was detected.



But that’s all old history, we’re told, because those cables were “analog.” With new “digital” cables (e.g., HDMI), quality is more important than ever. Indeed, the term “digital” sounds more complicated and less familiar, so we’re inclined to accept what we’re told. Still, knowledge is power, so let’s examine the facts.

In actuality, all signals are analog in nature. So all signals need a reasonably good wire to travel un-degraded from point A to point B. True analog signals travel as a continuously changing voltage, which must be faithfully reproduced on the far end of the cable. Equipment can tolerate a small amount of degradation, but significant disruptions will be reproduced, uncorrected, in your speakers.

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[Link: electronichouse.com]