I recently stopped into a local small consumer electronics and accessories chain store, which I will call “Radium Wack,” to protect its identity, in order to buy a DVI cable for my computer monitor. However, when I got there I was surprised to find that the only cable they had avaliable cost a whopping $99.99. By comparison, I could get a DVI cable online for about ten bucks. So why was it so expensive? It was because the cable was a Monster brand cable, and one of their highest grade. Complete with extra shielding, gold plated connectors and all other kinds of spiffy features, it promised to give me the best damn picture that money could buy – at least as far as the cable goes.

Monster cable is a brand which got started in the days when almost all video and audio connectors were analog, and made a name for themselves in the field of high grade, high end, high priced interconnection cables for home theater, stereo and video. They have since branched out into everything from computer cables to phone cables to digital camera connectors. They produce everything from DVI cables, to digital optical to USB and network cables. All of them promising the highest grade materials, extensive shielding and excellent signal transmission, assuring the best possible sound, picture and connection.

Digital vs. Analog:

With analog signals, there’s no doubt that the quality of the cables and connectors plays a roll in how the system sounds. Most equipment comes with OEM cables which are very poorly shielded and don’t have very good conductors. Upgrading from cheap cables to $20 cables is likely to make a noticeable difference. (Of course whether or not the the really high end cables are warranted is another question entirely). But what about digital connections?

To say that with a digital signal you “Either have the signal or you don’t,” would be something of an oversimplification. It’s true that there are circumstances when a signal might be very weak, resulting in loss of some of the data. We all know this from when a digital cell phone is on the edge of coverage and the person starts “cracking up.” or there are pauses when the signal is not receivable. However, this is really not an issue for most modern short-distance connection standards, such as DVI, HDMIor digital optical. This article does a great job of explaining how even the cheapest HDMI cables result in nearly zero loss in data and no loss in picture, since the minuscule loss of bits is well bellow the margin for error correction within the signal. So while higher end cables may indeed have greater bandwidth and provide a better signal path, there’s no actual need for it.

But what about connection standards like USB? With USB cables, Monster claims that you will get better performance and reliability by using their high grade cables, which they state have three times the bandwidth USB 2.0 actually requires. There is some truth to this, as USB devices can have problems if the cable run is excessively long, there is an extreme amount of interference or you are using an old cable, designed for only usb 1.1 with USB 2.0. In most cases, you will notice this pretty easily. It’s not really a judgment call. Either your device works consistently well, or it gets dropped frequently, reverts to usb 1.1 speed or cannot be properly detected. In this case, you really don’t need high end USB cable. A decent usb 2.0 cable will work, and if it’s too long, a usb booster/repeater or even a powered hub is your best bet.

But one of my favorites is how they describe how their USB cable for digital cameras will help keep the integrity of your photos and media:

Monster’s U-Link 300 USB Mini-B connection features advanced technologies, so your picture and sound quality won’t deteriorate—regardless of how many times it’s duplicated, played, or edited.
link

In the past, I’ve seen high end usb cables advertised as giving such things as “richer colors” or “more vibrant” images. While it’s true that packets can be lost when transmitting on a USB cable, it’s extremely rare for this to affect images. There are built in error correction and retransmission measures in all these cases, and if the cable is actually impacting the performance, as mentioned above, it will be obvious.

The other thing is that there’s nothing “subtle” about loosing data in a digital image. It happens from time to time, but is far more likely to be caused by a disk error or a software problem than by the connection medium. And when it does happen, you will know, as even a small error will cause some major issues. Program files, compressed packages and other items can become useless and images, might look like this:

(click to enlarge)

As you can see, if your photos are somehow being corrupted or not transmitted properly, the results are pretty obvious. This is true for most types of data.

Conclusion: For analog connection, such as those still often used in audio, or older TV/Video signals, buying decent quality cable makes sense, although going for the really high end cables is, at best, questionable. But for digital connections, like DVI, HDMI or digital audio, save your money and get something cheap. There will be effectively no difference. For things like USB or Firewire, standard cables will generally be fine. However, if you have issues with the device staying connected or operating at normal speed, you might need a newer cable, a shorter run or a powered hub. But paying for “designer” digital cables? That’s money down the drain.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 11:14 am and is filed under Bad Science, Culture, Good Science, Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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