03.Price comparison
|
| DIGITAL CABLES |
| Brand / model (in price order within similar lengths) |
Cable length (metres) |
Price ($) |
|
| HDMI CABLES |
|
|
| Concord |
3 |
48 |
| Sony |
2 |
72 |
| Panasonic |
3 |
99 |
| Audioquest |
3 |
109 |
| Phillips |
3 |
130 |
| Monster 500HD |
2 |
199 |
| Belkin PureAV |
2.4 |
250 |
| Monster 1000HD |
2 |
389 |
| Concord |
10 |
90 |
| Monster 700HD |
10 |
599 |
|
| TOSLINK DIGITAL AUDIO CABLES |
| DSE Titanium Series |
1.5 |
30 |
| Neotech |
1.5 |
37 |
| Foxtel |
1.5 |
40 |
| Belkin PureAV |
1.8 |
80 |
| Audioquest |
1 |
99 |
| Monster (interlink) |
2 |
179 |
| | | |
How we test
Four panellists compare a range of HDMI and Toslink digital audio cables at various price points to determine the amount of difference in audio/video quality that can be detected. The panellists are unaware of the cable designators, the brand and cable lengths. Each cable is compared twice unless an obvious impairment makes further checking necessary. The second run follows a different randomised order.
Picture and sound quality The panellists score the picture quality and/or sound quality on a scale of 1-10, where 10 means no impairment can be seen and/or heard. They are asked to describe any impairment which causes a score of less than 10. Short sequences from a Blu-ray movie are shown for the HDMI test and from a CD for the optical cable test, including male vocal, female vocal, rock, classical and Celtic music styles.
Performance To extract a performance difference, our testers combine a number of cables using female/female joiners, however we do not recommend this setup as it could lead to some degradation in video quality. Various combinations of up to four of the supplied cables are tried, using three joiners. No effects on the picture were seen. The maximum length tried from the supplied cables was 26m. Finally, by adding two generic 5m cables to cables used in the test, making the cable length 33m, we could discern “sparklies” (small white pixels not in the original footage) on close inspection of a 1080p video source. When the video was reduced to 720p the errant pixels disappeared.
Further testing
CHOICE conducts more tests with a different four-person panel, including male and female participants covering a broad age range.
Video quality To evaluate video quality, a copy of a Blu-ray movie sequence is shown using a Sony PS3 with the latest firmware applied and viewed on a Panasonic 50-inch plasma TV (TH-50PZ800A). Cables are swapped manually and the panel does not know which cable is in use at any given time.
Length discrepancies For our long (10-metre) test we use a Jaycar Concord brand ($100) and a Monster brand cable ($600). Toslink Reference tracks are played on a Pioneer DVD player that is connected to the Denon AV receiver to Aaron stereo loudspeakers. Cables are swapped manually, and the panel does not know which cable is in use at any given time.