HDMI cable Wireworld Ultraviolet 0.3m, or Audioquest Carbon 0.3m

[kennyb123]

I use Wireworld Ultraviolet in my A/V system.  I should warm you that it may be difficult to use short lengths of that cable, as the flat shape makes it somewhat inflexible.  Plus I'm not actually sure shorter is better in this application.  

The WW.Ultraviolet delivered a nice bang for the buck with both audio and video.  The gains with audio were actually more noticeable than the gains in video.  I don't have any experience with AQ's HDMI cable.  The only time I compared AQ to WW was with their ethernet cables.  The WW Chroma easily bested the AQ Cinnamon.  

 

The improvement in sound quality going up one level to the WW Starlight surprised me.  It wasn't difficult to hear the difference.  On the other hand, I had trouble though seeing much of a difference in terms of video.

 

For audio, I'm not sure you need the bandwidth that the Series 7 cables provide.  There is a seller on Audigon selling 1m Starlight 5.2 cables for $40 each.  For that price it might be worth trying one.

[kennyb123]

19 hours ago, Forgisound said:

I'm also interested in an ethernet cable. I'm currently using AQ Cinnamon. If WW Chroma is better, then I'll try Chroma, or even better WW.

 

The improvement I heard with Chroma over Cinnamon really surprised me.  They were priced about the same so I figured it would be a wash.  I had purchased the Cinnamon from a dealer who offered a 30 day return.  I was about 3 weeks into it when my WW dealer let me know that he was able to get a Chroma for me to try.  I substituted the Chroma and was surprised to notice improvements right away - but it got even better a few hours later.  I requested an RMA for the Cinnamon the next day.

 

It should be noted that I’m using a 5m length of Chroma.  A month prior to this, my dealer loaned me a 5m length of WW Starlight.  I heard an improvement but no way the improvement justified the price.  I never got to directly compare the Chroma to the Starlight, but it seemed to me that the Chroma offered a better bang for the buck.

 

I also got to try a shorter length of Platinum Starlight.  Insane the difference this made, but again I didn’t think it justified the expense.

[kennyb123]

12 hours ago, marce said:

For digital cables such as these I would expect more data and some measurements (critical with digital signal transmission, wot ever your beliefs), instead they just play the marketing game, some nice profits being made along the way.

 

Weird of them to expect people to judge the value of their products by actually trying them.  

[kennyb123]

On 6/6/2019 at 4:23 PM, Speedskater said:

A Belden  bonded-pair HDMI cable is the only way to go.

When it comes to high frequency cables of all sorts, Belden is all about science & engineering. Stay away from audiophile alternate universe nonsense.

 

Upon which measurements do you base this recommendation?  Which measurements would the OP use to judge the Belden as “the only way to go” for his application?  And have you ever confirmed through listening comparisons that Belden HDMI cables offer superior sound quality to the cables the OP mentioned?  And do you have any evidence that proves that the cables the OP mentioned are inferior to the Belden?  

[kennyb123]

10 hours ago, marce said:

Transmitting Ethernet baseband signals is a mature discipline, with many years of research behind it.  Signal integrity is well understood as are the means of achieving the required signal integrity and EMC compliance.

In this case a network analyser would be the tool of choice.

The question should be which offers the best digital signal transmission.

 

Would you direct me to a HDMI cable that has published specs that confirm that it “offers the best digital signal transmission”?   

[kennyb123]

4 hours ago, Speedskater said:

If you can hear a difference in a simple listening comparison of HDMI cables, you have a big problem somewhere in your system.

 

Occam might suggest otherwise. 

 

The system in which I evaluated these cables was my very modest AV system.  The comparisons were done with the cable between a DirecTV receiver, an Onkyo receiver and an LG OLED TV.  I had two 2m runs of 4 cables: 1) Monoprice HDMI, 2) WW Island, 3) WW Ultraviolet, 4) WW Starlight.  The receiver does switching duties so it was the simple case of DirecTV > Onkyo > OLED.

 

The first rounds were done with an NFL TV game playing that was recorded onto my DVR.  That allowed me to fast forward and rewind.

 

i didn’t set out to evaluate audio... it was only the picture I cared about.  It actually came as a surprise the improvement to the clarity of speaking voices through my Polk center channel.  I’ve intentionally kept the audio quality low budget in that system - and yet was surprised to notice a difference. But of course your worldview can’t permit that, so I know I’ve wasted time responding to you. Hopefully others will benefit.

 

Some of the drive-by snark that some do here comes off as virtue signaling.  No real effort to try to be helpful.  

 

Thanks though to those who made helpful contributions.

[kennyb123]

4 hours ago, Speedskater said:

If you can hear a difference in a simple listening comparison of HDMI cables, you have a big problem somewhere in your system.

 

I didn’t expect you to answer the questions I asked you in post 19.  

[kennyb123]

1 hour ago, Sonicularity said:

 

Here is some information that may be helpful to some.

 

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm

 

25' Certification

 

45' Certification

 

The spec sheet

 

Earlier in the thread, audiophile cable manufactures were criticized because they don’t publish specs that justify their claims.  I’ve been trying to understand what it would look like if they did.  Belden has been held out as the gold standard, so this helps as BJC uses Belden cables.  

 

I see nothing that suggests superior engineering as far as specs go.  “Sufficient adequate” would be my takeaway.  Further, what I see as far as specs isn’t much different than what the audiophile manufacturers publish - but of course the audiophile manufacturers are the ones making claims.  So now I better understand why some have complaints.  

 

Thanks to all who contributed here.  

[kennyb123]

On 5/8/2020 at 1:30 AM, FIndingit said:

It’s funny there are no higher quality 0.3 m Wireworld cables, new or used, available anywhere in the world at the moment. All sold for i2s use?

 

0.3m in stock at this moment:
https://store.wireworldcable.com/products/ultraviolet-7-hdmi-audio-video-4k-18gbps-hdr-cable