The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III) - Gizmodo Comments

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

the_evil_sound_guy — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:50:09 EDT

I wish I could remember were I read the article but, there was a double-blind test done with some very well respected "white glove" Recording Engineers to see if their "golden ears" could hear the difference between Monster's Pro 1000 series audio cable and a wire coat hanger. 8 out of 10 chose the coat hanger as the better sounding of the two signal sources.

There are good, even great digital and analog cables out there. I just don't think that Monster is one of them.

Just my $.02

the_evil_sound_guy

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

chewy1228 — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:16:17 EST

The end of HDMI cable:
[www.smh.com.au]

It's actually still early days, but just like the evolution of Composite cable -> S-video -> Component -> DVI -> HDMI, it's just natural that the next wave of better transmittion technologies are now showing up in the spotlight (and bound to replace the 'legacy' protocol in a not-too-distant future), but this time, there's no cable!

So, future proofing my a$$!! Monster Cable!!

chewy1228

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:43:17 EST

@blahgherzsuk: As Penn and Teller like to say, sometimes you just have to call an asshole an asshole. And the guys behind Monster (and Pear, even more so) are scamming assholes of the highest order. A "balanced" treatment doesn't have to humor both sides if one is patently ridiculous.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

red_shift — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:52:06 EDT

@blahgherzsuk:

Fiber HDMI? I have something better:

WIRELESS HDMI :-) Coming , Jan 2008 in CES!

Soon there will be no more wires left for Monster to fleece the public anymore. (evil laughter)

red_shift

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

red_shift — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:40:39 EDT

@photon01:

I am sorry but that is pure crap that technician gave you. I don't mean any disrespect to you, but 1080p does not mean more current/voltage. I am a verification engineer having done HDMI design verification. It's the bit rate on HDMI that is different to carry full 1080p. (clock runs faster, but voltage/current do NOT vary)

In all reality the board could have gone bad due to power surges or the like. There is no chance that a 1080p incompatible cable (there is no sych thing for distances under 25feet ANYWAY) could cause a HDMI circuit board to fry up.

God, there is no much nonsense and stuff being foisted on the public in the area of HDMI.. *sigh*

red_shift

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

sks939 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:20:10 EDT

If you have Monster money and you want the best solution for very long cable lengths + future proofing for your in-wall cable, then fiber is probably the thing for you.

There are now fiber HDMI solutions available ($$) online. [dvigear.stores.yahoo.net] or [digitalconnection.com] are two examples.

sks939

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

blahgherzsuk — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:58:55 EDT

This all sounds like "my daddy can beat your daddy. Whatever! They're freakin' cables. If you have the money to spend on something that you believe is better than the next guy's product, then more power to you. It ain't MY money you're wasting. Besides, based on all the uninformed and bragadocious statements here it's painfully clear that TOO MANY of you are basing your opinions on OTHER people's uneducated blogged opinions which likens you to lemmings. Just about everyone on a freakin' forum has dillusions of grandeur and that they're "experts" simply because they've been allowed a soapbox to have their lonely voices heard... over and over ("Ooo, look at how many postings I've got!"). Step away from the computer, turn off your home theater & game consoles... for the love of Mike, get out of the basement and get some much needed sunshine. you're all turning into canibalistic Morlocks. It's pathetic that I can never find unbiased and informative forums that shed light on BOTH sides of a topic. Instead, the only things found are hate mongering comments and unwarranted bashing with nary a positive thing mentioned. It simply looks like everybody detests everything. Sheesh.

blahgherzsuk

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

CarltonBale — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:11:03 EDT

What I'd love to see is HDMI break-out connectors that would allow Cat 5 Ethernet cables for HDMI runs. Raj Nair conducted extensive testing, sending HDMI signals over Cat 5; he wrote an excellent article summarizing the results [www.digitaltvdesignline.com] .

Because of the number of contacts in an HDMI connector, it requires 2 Cat 5 cables, but the twisted-pairs within Cat 5 generally provide superior signal transmission versus the non-twisted wires used inside most HDMI cables -- and at pennies per foot, the cost is a fraction of even the discount cables.

So basically, if you could stick a HDMI connector on the end of a pair of Cat5 cables, you'd have an lower-priced and potentially better-performing HDMI cable.

CarltonBale

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Making88 — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:09:00 EDT

HDMI is an all-digital audio/video interface and as such only signal strength and correct length of cable makes the best picture. The better the cable design (like monster) the longer lengths you can go without an amp. Yes, this is all about the TV's error correction. If you buy a cheap TV you will have bad results. Also this test is invalid as not the same image was used and the cable, wrapped as it was, was not wrapped to the same specks and as such would cause different levels of interference. Ask your local guitar store if you want a demo of this effect.

Making88

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

thexdude — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:35:00 EDT

Great article. Monster has never seen 1 cent of my money and I never believed in pricey cables. But your recommendations ignores one niche group. Those of us building home theaters and putting cables in the walls. I'll easily be able to upgrade all my components as new technologies arrive but I won't be ripping open my double-layered sound-proof walls. I'm still not going to buy Monster. Does anyone actually guaratee compatibility with future formats?

thexdude

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Tr3y — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:44:50 EDT

A much needed conclusion. I can't wait to send this to my friend who blew $65 on an overpriced HDMI cable. Monoprice FTW! I thank you.

Tr3y

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

scarbrtj — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:47:52 EDT

Thanks for not spreading the journalistic legs for an unseemly and unpalatable injection of Monster Cable pseudoscience.

I can respect you again, and this lets us take our relationship "to the next level." Now if I can just get you to stop calling that fruit-shaped, multicolored kid from Cupertino...I don't think he even likes you.

scarbrtj

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

banmojo — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:15:24 EDT

Just my two cents, and I know it's already been beaten to death, but Bestbuy and its ilk are ripping off the masses. Anyone who takes the time to read this excellent report understands the conclusions. No one 'in the know' would fall prey to the bs. I'd be incensed if I weren't so jaded and apathetic. Then again, if the masses wish to remain ignorant - what did PT Barnum say about a fool and his money??

banmojo

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

photon01 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:25:08 EDT

I built a setup with a 52" samsung lcd 1080p with a gaming PC and PS3. We bought a 25' cable from newegg (the whole system is built into the wall), and it worked fine for about 2 weeks. Then the system board for the TV AND the video card (8800 GTS) both went out at the same time. The tech guy that repaired the TV said that the cables weren't rated to run at 1080P and thats what caused the failure. SOO just be careful, it may work at first, but it could cause things to break too.

photon01

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Collins1990 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:48:50 EDT

@Bweetza: The mark up on cables is normally about 30%

Collins1990

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

photopiate — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:48:22 EDT

I'm able to access the store cost database at a "neighborhood" small electronics store (Think "Radio Shed") and found that the store cost for the Ultra 600 4 foot Monster HDMI cable
is $27.50, while the customer/shelf price for the cable is $99.99.

The standard Monster 4 foot HDMI cable that has a shelf price of $79.99 has a store cost of $13.20.

You get the idea.

So, if you want to make ridiculous profits, become a Monster dealer.

photopiate

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Klay — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:38:40 EDT

While I welcome this "real world" test, note that the HDMI standard is really specific in terms of cable performance standards as it relates to the transmission and reception of the digital data and this includes the performance of the transmitters and receivers that the cable is connected to. From the HDMI standards site:
---------------------------
Q. Does HDMI accommodate long cable lengths?

Yes. HDMI technology has been designed to use standard copper cable construction at long lengths. In order to allow cable manufacturers to improve their products through the use of new technologies, HDMI specifies the required performance of a cable but does not specify a maximum cable length. We have seen cables pass "Standard Cable" HDMI compliance testing at lengths of up to a minimum of 10 meters without the use of a repeater. It is not only the cable that factors into how long a cable can successfully carry an HDMI signal, the receiver chip inside the TV or projector also plays a major factor. Receiver chips that include a feature called "cable equalization" are able to compensate for weaker signals thereby extending the potential length of any cable that is used with that device.

With any long run of an HDMI cable, quality manufactured cables can play a significant role in successfully running HDMI over such longer distances.

Q. How do I run HDMI cables longer than 10 meters?

There are many HDMI Adopters working on HDMI solutions that extend a cable's effective distance from the typical 10 meter range to much longer lengths. These companies manufacture a variety of solutions that include active cables (active electronics built into cables that boost and extend the cable's signal), repeaters, amplifiers as well as CAT5/6 and fiber solutions.
------------------------------

What does this mean? That one cable can out-perform another cable just by being wire. Conversely, connected to inadequate receivers or transmitters inside the set that same cable may not do as well.

Klay

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

jvdb — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:03:02 EDT

Why don't you throw a few more cables into the mix? I've been very happy with the RAM Electronics Rev2 cables. Although pricier than the Monoprice equivelant, they can still be had for about half the price of the Monster.

jvdb

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Sledgehammer70 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:44:02 EDT

Monster cables are just marked up cables that are actually nicer than the slightly cheaper cables. In most cases you will see Monster out performing everyone else, but in general you will see tons of high end companies out perform Monster.

I like the Bose statement above... but with a twist. Its a poor mans rich cable.

Sledgehammer70

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

aec007 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:17:39 EDT

@ralph420:
Yeah, but when the cables are good and "FREE" for a tradeoff of little free advetising and PR, anyone will choose the FREE stuff.

I doubt Moster will ship you, me or Joe Nobody a free cable for PR purposes.

Remember the Oscars and all the free gadgets the nominees get... not the general public... why? PR.

aec007

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

mcowan3 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:01:42 EDT

I bought a Monoprice 35ft HDMI in wall cable so that I could play my X-Box 360 elite on my 100 inch projection screen. I had to have the cable run to a separate room where the Denon reciever sends the signal back thru the wall to the projector, so the signal actually travels thru 65 feet of HDMI cable. I was initially worried because of the cheap price. I had to have it overnight shipped because of my immediate need to get it installed (C:, which actually cost a dollar more than the cable, and was still over $40 less than the cable offered by the installer. After I ordered it I saw a review somewhere that suggested you use a signal amplifier if you use an HDMI cable over 30 feet. I was afraid I would have to spend more. I am extremely happy with the picture. I have the xbox HD-DVD player and the picture is great.

mcowan3

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Evil J — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:01:37 EDT

I don't even know that Monster cables are for people who light up with $100s (I refuse to use the B word for those bills), but I do think that they capitalize on two things: Laziness, and the The-Most-Expensive-Is-Expensive-For-A-Reason syndrome. The first comes when you're at your big box store buying up your home theater, and the guy says "Hey, if you want to get the MOST out of your system, you need an HDMI cable!" Uninformed consumer, already looking at spending $2,000 at the least says "Sure!" just to avoid another trip to the store. The second is that logic that you ALWAYS get what you pay for, and thus, spending more is a sure way to buy quality.

It's a cable, and this has to be the BIGGEST scam ever. OK, maybe overstating it slightly, but it is a complete bunch of crap that anyone ever spends more than two bucks a foot for any cable.

Evil J

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

MagnoliaBoy — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:43:03 EDT

Even after you read the results, I'd like to point out, as a cabling aficionado, that even with the extreme price and lack of performance versus cheap discount cables, I really like the extra re-enforced gold plated plugs. If you plug in and out constantly, I have a feeling the monster cable will last 5x longer than a cheap one as you bound to short it out after a while.

MagnoliaBoy

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

netfish5 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:39:56 EDT

How can you assume that if the 35 ft Monsters had no noise that their 50 ft would have noise either. By that logic, the 50 ft Monoprice shouldn't have had any noise either, since their 35 ft cables worked fine. You can also surmise that if 35 ft Monsters have no noise, that 1,000 ft Monsters should have no noise, or one mile and so on. That just doesn't seem to make any sense.

netfish5

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

highfloydelity — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:34:06 EDT

Great job. Now I have some proof when I tell people that Monster cables are just a bunch of marketing and that my $6 HDMI cable is just as good.

highfloydelity

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

ralph420 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:00:36 EDT

calaverasgrandes, Monster Cables are actually used in some of the biggest recording studios. David Hampton, David Frangioni, Elliot Mazer, Phil Ramone
Bruce Swedien, and Eddie Kramer all use Monster Cable and Monster Power in their studios. And these are guys who can easily have their choice of any cables they want.

ralph420

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

nupshah — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:47:59 EDT

Do all the cables support HDMI 1.3? Can they output the same bandwidth as HDMI 1.3? Because the Monoprice cables support HDMI 1.3 but they are HDMI 1.2 cables.

nupshah

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

aec007 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:43:50 EDT

It seems from this test that:
- The Samsung unit did not put out a strong signal as the PS3.
- Given the same amount of noise in the cable for both tests, the unit that outputs the highest signal level will have the highest signal-to-noise ratio.
- The higher the signal-to-noise ratio the better the TV will be able to differenciate the signal.

In the test I wuold have "uncoiled" the cable as that would be the way the cable would most likely used in a real world scenario.
A coiled cable works as (u guess it) a coil, so it can induce more signal degradation that normal

aec007

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

SidV — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:30:21 EDT

People who are rich as hell and want the best don't buy monster either, just like they don't buy Bose. Those are not high end cables if you have money to burn. They are highly marketed cables though. As a caveat no I am not rich, but I did sell audio in a high end store.

SidV

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

brushedaluminumbrady — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:27:43 EDT

@Bweetza:

monster cable has fat markup! i did a stint at an authorized monster retailer and looking at price lists and costs for the company, we made like 60pts on monster cable gear. like Havok154, it made staff discount even more kickass.

brushedaluminumbrady

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

calaverasgrandes — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:25:24 EDT

At my work there are two IT guys that in younger days used to work at Frys/Outpost. They both laugh and roll on the floor when you mention Monster.
Ditto for thier audio cables. Regardless of the hype you will NEVER find monster in a pro recording studio. Mogami, Belden, Canare, maybe even Hosa, but no Monster.

calaverasgrandes

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Darkest Daze — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:17:32 EDT

@Bweetza:
When I worked at CompUSA, employees were able to buy everything at "cost". It's not true cost and obviously higher then what CompUSA payed for it but a Monster cable that was $100 was around $30-40 for us and a $60 cable was about $20-30, I think. Non-monster cables that were around $40-60 were about $15 or under for us.

Darkest Daze

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

jrbd90 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:10:50 EDT

+2 for Bluejeanscable.

From them I have (2) 4'HDMI cables
(1) HDMI to DVI
(1) Set of component cable
(2+) Digital audio cable
(1) Component to VGA/RGB

all with no complaints or problems

jrbd90

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

jrbd90 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:08:10 EDT

Monster probably sources their cables from Monoprice.

jrbd90

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

akatsuki — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:04:28 EDT

Bluejeanscable is usually who I order from. Custom lengths and well built cables.

akatsuki

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

tbotello — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:02:42 EDT

I'm not sure of the cost to the vendor, but friend who works at BB purchased the ~$100 monster cable for $20. Everything Monster is marked way up.

tbotello

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

DocGratis — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:01:04 EDT

Yeah, good job, and useful information.

The best part of those pictures is looking at the growing pile of cable between the PS3 and the TV.

I do wonder if a larger (70"+) TV would allow for more evidence of signal breakdown in the short lengths of cable...

DocGratis

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

MJDeviant — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:56:22 EDT

I still prefer hooking up my non-existent $50,000 HD entertainment theater with common string.

MJDeviant

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Selcouth14: makes jokes in base 13 — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:55:49 EDT

I've been looking forward to this follow-up since the first cable challenge and I must say...hot damn! Well written, informative and proves everything I've been saying and thinking about these cables.

Tip my hat to you good sir...and to monoprice, keep them cheap.

Selcouth14: makes jokes in base 13

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

Bweetza — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:43:53 EDT

Great writeup. I'd be curious to know what the actual cost of a Monster Cable is to a vendor and then what percentage the vendor marks it up to retail pricing. Anyone do purchasing at BestBuy that feels compelled to post? (doubtful but worth a shot).

Bweetza

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

tucker — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:43:52 EDT

well done.

I am confident that, if a vendor has a solid return policy and satisfaction guarantee, you should feel free to buy ... from a discount house.

well said!

tucker

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

aboriginal — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:42:59 EDT

Belkin

aboriginal

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

devil-illusion — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:27:58 EDT

awesome

devil-illusion

The Truth About Monster Cable - Grand Finale (Part III)

MaoChan — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:11:14 EDT

I wish I could find the article but someone already did this test. They actually measured the amount of electrical interference that ran through the two cables and gauged the amount of signal degradation that occurred.

Monoprice won that unless it was over a span of 75+ feet. In this digital age, it's not like the analog days of actually needing something to shield you from the demons of interference.

MaoChan