I Spent a THOUSAND Dollars on HDMI Cables.. for Science

[MythicalMalice]

After looking through this data I'm wondering if LMG could do testing on Audioquest's (or Magnolia, depending on your region) HDMI 2.1 cables and either [most likely] debunk or prove if there is a difference between them at all, and what percentage of it is purely marketing.

 

For those of you who don't know, Audioquest released a TON of HDMI 2.1 cables when the spec was finalized.

Here is their entire lineup (all prices are from Best Buy in the US for the 5-foot (1.7-meter) cable):

Audioquest Blueberry - $39.95

Audioquest Pearl - $49.98

Audioquest Ocean - $49.99

Audioquest Forest - $99.95

Audioquest Sky - $99.95

Audioquest Cinnamon - $169.95

Audioquest Carbon - $279.95

Audioquest Vodka - $499.98

Audioquest Thunderbird - $895.00

Audioquest Firebird - $1,895.00

Audioquest Dragon - $2,995.00

 

That's right folks, you can purchase your very own 5-foot HDMI 2.1 cable for ONLY $2,995! Or, get the 10-foot version for $4,495!

That's $600/foot and $500/foot respectively.

Reminder: ever single one of these is a 5-foot HDMI 2.1 cable. There is no other significant difference that the average consumer would be able to detect.

 

Shock and horror aside, I actually have a few 15-foot cables of the Ocean version (and  am very happy with them) but in the video today Linus said that signal degradation at those speeds becomes a problem once you cross the 10-foot threshold. So, personally, I would find it very interesting if LMG would test at least one of every type from Audioquest (Magnolia) for the 5-foot version and then also the largest cable length available for each series and see what the difference is...if any, let's be real here.

[Scalion]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

An Active HDMI cable like they said for those kinds of lengths. You'll need to look up your own reviews in terms of reliability since they are not covered in this video

 

 

It's in the first post

 

 

you can open it using google sheets or libreoffice you if you don't have MS Excel

My apologize, I didn't recognize the format file and went and download open office. 
This kind of review could have helped me to find which company is the most reliable, but ... the way the script of these video are made are not straight to the point and failed to deliver the expectation from a viewer point of view when it come the need to buy hdmi and need help to know which one.
It's unfortunate there's no amazonbasic 2.1 (yet)

[Fezzik]

6 hours ago, geokilla said:

As a Canadian and Linus being Canadian, I'm surprised they didn't test PrimeCables.

Isn't PrimeCables the Canadian brand for Monoprice?

[Fezzik]

5 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

 

This is a screenshot of the spreadsheet. I made a few adjustments to column width to clean things up, but all the data is untouched. 

Excel online is free:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web

 

[Fezzik]

5 hours ago, captcrunch said:

I was really hoping to see some Prime Cables brand on this list. To see if they were any good I just picked up some 2.1 "certified" cables. 

Pretty sure PrimeCables is Monoprice rebranded.  Someone can correct me if i'm wrong...

[Louwii]

2 hours ago, Connerq said:

Don't misunderstand, I'm not stating the difference was light and day. Each time we'd listen it sounded incredible! From the very beginning it was awesome! 6k in speakers with like a 3k amp and speaker wire that I would buy a graphics card for? It was amazing. But just changing out the HDMI was able to push the envelope just a little bit more until we got to diminishing returns. Thinking it over I think they started with at the time the Forrest cables -> Cinnamon -> Carbon. They made a big jump looking at the audioquest lineup now from Cinnamon to Carbon so we would still hear a difference and it didn't start to get muddied. After this I personally invested into some of their cheaper Ocean cables a little after this and I've not gotten a better picture. But my stereo equipment I'm fairly convinced is just a little bit cleaner. And its normally what I recommend to other people, just better than basic cables and stop there, you'll get a little more out of it and you don't need to empty the wallet to get tangible benefits.

The $1000 HDMI they tested years ago was the first video I was disappointed in personally since they didn't test it as I've outlined here. They're right, its not like its a faster cable. IMO, you're only gonna hear the difference. I'm pretty sure it was garbage anyways, the gauge on it was pretty pathetic for a $100 much less 10x.

I understand what you're saying, and it makes sense when sending audio via analog. But that shouldn't be possible when sending audio via digital. A bit is a bit and should always produce the same sound as long as the received signal is intact.

I did a bit of research and the only possible issue I found is ground loop hum, which is quite a specific thing, and probably not what you're mentioning here. I also found people stating the same thing as I am.

I also had a look at https://www.audioquest.com/page/aq-hdmi.html and I didn't see anything about why the audio would be better. I mean yeah they mention it, but then they only talk about how their cables are fast and how they do better than the HDMI certification, which probably means faster speeds and less jitter. But jitter doesn't really matter as long as it does not modify the signal sent.

I honestly hope you do hear a nice difference if you spent more on that HDMI cable. But unfortunately I think it might be a placebo effect. Regarding what happened at Best Buy during the demo, I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if they faked it in some way.

[BondiBlue]

16 minutes ago, Fezzik said:

Excel online is free:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web

I never said it wasn't. I was just making the data available for people to see without going to another site. 

[Thrill Killer]

My 7z wont open this with 7 console. I have to r.click to get it to semi works. And, it makes about 50+ pdf, which open in edge, with nothing but pass/fail data. No indication as to what brand, length, 2.0 or 2.1 cable. And when i open my 7z console it list 4 Fallout folders that are not on my pc. what's going on? How can i get a list of the cable brand names that pass/fail?

[jones177]

I have a much simpler test.

Will it run Far Cry 5 bench without the screen going black on a LG OLED TV.

 

After watching another LTT video I bought 2 LG B9 OLED TVs. With them I bought 2 HDMI 2.1 cables. They did great with my 20 series cards(4k 60hz, 1440p 120hz) but when I finally got 30 series cards they failed with screen going black in some games. 

 

With Far Cry 5 bench the failure not only happened at 4k 120hz but 1080p as well. 

 

To get cables that do work I followed the advice of the TV reviewing channel HDTVTest. 

[Hito_kun]

5 minutes ago, Thrill Killer said:

My 7z wont open this with 7 console. I have to r.click to get it to semi works. And, it makes about 50+ pdf, which open in edge, with nothing but pass/fail data. No indication as to what brand, length, 2.0 or 2.1 cable. And when i open my 7z console it list 4 Fallout folders that are not on my pc. what's going on? How can i get a list of the cable brand names that pass/fail?

The attached excel file list matches the pdf's.

[Thrill Killer]

26 minutes ago, Hito_kun said:

The attached excel file list matches the pdf's.

Mine has no attached excel file. I can't get them to open. 7z won't open them. There are 2 files in the op. I can't open the second one. I deleted the first one as it's all pdf that open in edge. I don't want edge, so i just got rid of the file. i'd rather lose the file than use edge. how do i view the results without edge and my 7z doing jack shit.

[Hito_kun]

4 minutes ago, Thrill Killer said:

Mine has no attached excel file. I can't get them to open. 7z won't open them. There are 2 files in the op. I can't open the second one. I deleted the first one as it's all pdf that open in edge. I don't want edge, so i just got rid of the file. i'd rather lose the file than use edge. how do i view the results without edge and my 7z doing jack shit.

I have no idea why your pdfs open on Edge. You need an app that can open xlsx files to see the second file (MS Office, Office.com LibreOffice, Drag the file to GDocs). The 7z worked just fine for me, so I can't comment on the issues you're having.

If you go back in the thread, you'll can also find attached screenshots of the table, may be more convenient in your case.

[Thrill Killer]

Just now, Hito_kun said:

I have no idea why your pdfs open on Edge. You need an app that can open xlsx files to see the second file (MS Office, Office.com LibreOffice, Drag the file to GDocs). The 7z worked just fine for me, so I can't comment on the issues you're having.

If you go back in the thread, you'll can also find attached screenshots of the table, may be more convenient in your case.

I just did that. Thanks.

[Jarsky]

I posted about this on the video to but on this topic, DisplayPort cables are a massive issue as well.  

 

I got "VESA certified" DisplayPort 1.2 cables from my local store which were absolutely terrible. They were 2M (6.6ft) and my screens just kept blinking randomly, especially in heavy motion. They were approx US$12ea (about $40 NZD for 2)  I eventually upgraded to some other "branded" 1.4 cables which while much better, my primary monitor still kept blinking during games. These cost me US$35ea (about $100 NZD for 2). 

 

I since got some "VESA certified" DP 1.4 cables from Amazon which were just some random off brand. These cost me approx $80 NZD for 2. 

They are 3M (10ft) ones which actually fit my desk better since I have a standing desk...means I can actually raise it now. But the big win is that i've had absolutey zero issues with these. They looks nice, are nicely braided, a quality connector housing and just over all extremely happy with them. Sometimes going for the brands isn't the best option. 

 

I switched to DisplayPort from HDMI when I moved to 1440p and 4K monitors, so have been on DisplayPort for about 7 years now.

I honestly find it to be much worse than HDMI for finding decent cables that work without problems.

[1S2A1B]

Hello! Thank you @ColinLTT for putting in all of the work, collecting the data, and sharing it with us!
Excel nerd here. You can save yourself a bunch of hassle in this kind of project by formatting your table as a table in Excel. It will do a lot of work for you automatically, it just doesn't know it's a table until you say so.

When you're in a cell in an existing table you can hit Ctrl+A, Ctrl+T, Enter.
It will recognize the headers as headers, filtering is available automatically. You can name the table, and pick a style if you don't like the default one. Critically, everything keeps working when you add rows and columns. You don't have to drag your format down ahead of time, or copy formulas down after adding rows. You can move the table around on the sheet, or to a different sheet, delete or rearrange the columns, and nothing breaks. Formulas use column names instead of absolute locations. Helps a ton when you want to refer to one table from another, and start using more of the smart junk they keep adding to Excel.

Here's a version of your sheet formatted that way. Formulas are updated as if it was a table to start with. Just play with the toggles and options in the "Table Design" tab, and add some new rows. HDMI Cable Testing Results - 1S2A1B Table Formatting.xlsx

Doing this as soon as you start making a table makes a huge difference in ease of use. I have lots more to say but I'm trying to keep it short. Tables! Try it!

HDMI Cable Testing Results - 1S2A1B Table Formatting.xlsx

[Gork]

not enough RGB or Cowbell! So what I learned to day: things manufacturers say...super sus.

 

Unless it's our sponsor: SugerMa, Pa and Pimps Incorperated. Becase LTT store.com won't pay for itself. 

 

Shade much on Monoprice? lol not that i'm surprised. 

 

[PawnYourHead]

7 hours ago, ColinLTT said:

Just order from Amazon and return it if it doesn't work. Active cables are not compatible with the TotalPhase Cable Tester unfortunately. 

Hey Colin, 

 

Am I missing something here? Looking at the spreadsheet you guys only tested six 15 foot cables all from Monoprice which was having problems even getting their short cables to pass. Based on this information you guys are saying that using a passive cable over 10 feet "is asking for trouble". Is there some other piece of information you guys have beside this that was not presented in the video? If not you guys really need to test more 15 foot cables to validate your recommendation because 6 cables from one company is not nearly enough information to make such a claim.

[tokarin1910]

Sooo which one is the best performance for HDMI 2.1? I want to know that because the spreadsheet doesn't speak to me about it, 

Conveniently, my dad just wanted to buy a new HDMI because our is old and does not support 4k 120hz. 

Please let me know, thanks!

[PawnYourHead]

10 minutes ago, tokarin1910 said:

Sooo which one is the best performance for HDMI 2.1? I want to know that because the spreadsheet doesn't speak to me about it, 

Conveniently, my dad just wanted to buy a new HDMI because our is old and does not support 4k 120hz. 

Please let me know, thanks!

Basically just pick any cable from the list that says HDMI 2.1 and has a green pass next to it. It's a digital signal so as long as it passes it will perform the same as any other cable that passes.

[Trodan99]

Would it be possible for you guys to test brands like Ugreen and Baseus? Cause these are the 2 "most relevant" recommendation when I shop online and I am planning to buy one in the near future. Thanks. Also, will there be a testing on DP in the future as well?

[Levent]

11 hours ago, Tan3l6 said:

I'm wondering if DP 2.0 cables are as bad.

I really do believe they are even worse, I had more issues with DP cables than others, combined. 

[Senkon]

11 hours ago, darknessblade said:

Anyone else remembering the 1000$ hdmi cable video after watching the Test video of all those HDMI cables?

 

Soo sad linus did not test this one

Ahahaha!  I just watched the video, and had the exactly same thought, but I made an entire thread on it.  I really, really, really, want them to test out that cable!

Thread is Here, if you care to bump it.

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, Senkon said:

Ahahaha!  I just watched the video, and had the exactly same thought, but I made an entire thread on it.  I really, really, really, want them to test out that cable!

Thread is Here, if you care to bump it.

If you see the post from Colin on the previous page LTT no longer has the cable.

11 hours ago, ColinLTT said:

We dont have it any more

[Senkon]

4 minutes ago, Spotty said:

If you see the post from Colin on the previous page LTT no longer has the cable.

Daaaaamn!  I'd say it would be worth re-buying the cable... For science! 

 

Thinking about it, you could probably find it used for cheap? 

[AnonymousGuy]

Monoprice is good because it's cheap and their warranty is pretty hassle free.   And since we're talking digital...if it doesn't work you notice pretty quickly and yeet it back to them.

 

It's pretty useless recommendation but I've had good luck with CableMatters brand on Amazon across the board with every cable I've bought from them.  HDMI, DP, SATA, etc.

 

Be interested in seeing DisplayPort tested too.  That's way more likely to need high bandwidth 5K 144Hz 4:4:4 10bit HDR and probably longer lengths than HDMI people need where that's stuck with 4K120 HDR at best.  Plus DP 2.0 is probably on the horizon with the 4000 series.