Originally Posted by Big T
Whilst the cable will affect a number of variables, a good 75ohm cable will transmit the signal with little to no errors, as the data is digital it cannot be altered by a cable without introducing errors. The signal is also transmitted in the MHz domain well outside the audible range.

I read a definitive test recently concerning hdmi cables where the test involved a section of video where each frame had an md5 hash generated so that the captured frames could be compared with the original to determine whether or not expensive cable made grass any more vibrant or flesh tones more natural, the result bar one or two frames that had single pixel errors showed that a £1 cable was as good a transmitter of data as a £100 cable.
Hi Big T,

You are correct in that a good Ethernet cable will transmit the Ethernet signal without data errors. In fact, with the help of TCPIP, it will do that all day, every day, year after year, as long as you don't try to use too long a length of cable. But even in the absence of bit errors, the RFI carried by the distorted analogue sine waves I mentioned will pass through the end of the cable and into the rest of the system unhindered.

This is the key point: all can appear entirely well from a data integrity point of view, as error correction will mask the inevitable distortion of the analogue sine waves that I descried above. This distortion is an unavoidable fact, driven by how an electromagnetic signal interacts with a conductor.

So, the cable will run free of data errors, but the underlying RFI is still there in spades and will inflict significant damage to the sound.

I can't comment on HDMI cables as I have no experience with them. I'd hazard a guess that TV pictures are less sensitive to RFI.

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