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My Super Monster Gold-Plated USB Type-C cable is working just great! It was only $500 ....

Ha! My $8,500 Ethernet cable sneers at your $500 USB cable! (They also have a 1.5-meter USB cable for $700.)

Some people just have Too Much Money, and the rest of us have a moral obligation to held relieve them of some of it.

It depends. If the cable is angled downwards then the 1s, being heavier, fall more quickly than 0s. If the cable is angled upwards then the 0s are lighter and move more quickly.

So whether you encode your data in to 0s or 1s will depend on how the cable is angled.

I think we're wasted here. We could be working for these guys: http://www.audioquest.com/ethe...

To quote their 'tech blurb' for what is an 8m Ethernet cable, ordinarily retailing for less than $10, being sold for $1,158.75:

DIRECTIONALITY: All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. Arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For best results have the arrow pointing in the direction of the flow of music. For example, NAS to Router, Router to Network Player.

The idiots in question had this to say about the quality of their digital data:

"Extremely high-purity Perfect-Surface Silver minimizes distortion caused by the grain boundaries which exist within any metal conductor, nearly eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity"

"Sound appears from a surprisingly black background with unexpected detail and dynamic contrast."

"All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable."

If that's your starting point for idiocy, the only next step is to start painting equipment with magic symbols to repel gremlins and evil noise fairies.

Not an electronics guru, so I couldn't comment on that. I'm guessing that's for analogue signalling. How about for digital?

AudioQuest - RJ/E Ethernet – Diamond:

DIRECTIONALITY: All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. Arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For best results have the arrow pointing in the direction of the flow of music. For example, NAS to Router, Router to Network Player.

Care for a $5,000 Ethernet cable? AudioQuest will be glad to sell you one of those too. Or maybe you'll spring for the $42,000 speaker cables? Fill your shopping cart using the handy price list found here: http://www.audioquest.com/pdfs/AQ-Retail-PB-2011-NOV-220d.pdf

Don't blame Best Buy, $1095 is MSRP.

From the AudioQuest November 1 Retail Price Book:

An unavoidable fact-of-life: Every component and cable in a system causes some amount of distortion. These aberrations add up, like layers of foggy glass between you and the image.
The goal of high quality components and cables is to be like clean clear panes of glass, altering and distorting the
information as little as possible."

And one goal of digital transmission is to allow automatic correction of small analog signal errors (0V=0, 5V=1, 0.1V is also 0, 4.9V is also 1).

Quote #2:

Will [USB and HDMI] finally be the âoebits-are-bitsâ uncorruptable digital data weâ(TM)ve been promised over and over? Nope!

It does if all components are in spec.

Quote #3:

However, not only is there a surprising amount of variation among cables, but also in the capability of the hardwareâ(TM)s input and output electronics.

Fair enough. But either this is intentional, such as a device that is rated at a lower spec, or it is is equipment that is no longer working within specifications. If you really care about your audio and video, fix your faulty equipment. Putting a "nearly-analog-perfect" cable in the system may help but it's only a band-aid.

A digital cable that costs 100-200 times same-HDMI-standard-spec same-length cable in the local hardware store is only good for a few things:

* Getting a good laugh.
* Proving that the owner can burn $100 bills 10 at a time for what might be a status symbol. Note: Only applies to high-net-worth individuals.
* Proving P. T. Barnum was right. Applies to non-high-net-worth individuals who only think they are rich.
* Playing the role of the super-expensive wine on the wine list that is almost never ordered, to make your ordinary ridiculously-priced cables *cough*Monster(R)*cough* look downright reasonable.

Just for the shock value that they exist and that someone is paying these prices.

Audioquest: 8 feet of speaker cable for $8,450

Pear Cable: 12 feet for $7,250

Here's 3 meters for $12,700

A voltage stabilizer for $11,500 (what is that?)

A turntable cartridge for $20,000

And here's the winner: 8 ft of speaker cable for $39,999

You can't make this stuff up

Some of the higher priced ones (~$30) are worth it for a signal amplifier.

Especially if they're from AudioQuest. You can get a 3-foot "KE-4" speaker cable for merely $1,800. At that price, you know it must be good.

(And, if you take that as a serious endorsement, you deserve being taken for that ride.)

The manufacturer of both of those most expensive cables is Siltech. Other notable "high-end" audio cable manufacturers are Kimber Kable, MIT Cables, Nordost, and AudioQuest. Monster Cable isn't even considered "high-end" by most audiophiles. The fact that Monster is synomous with high-end cables is proof of their effective marketing.

And to answer the question, just buy Radio Shack cables.

the 3rd party cables aren't exactly of the highest quality....

The first-party cables aren't exactly of the highest quality, either. The GCN and PS2 cables are short, thin-gauge pieces of crap. To be fair, the cables that come with the XBox HD pack are also thin-gauge pieces of crap, but they're longer, and most importantly, they're replaceable. I don't buy Monster cables, because they're overpriced for the supposed quality, in the same way that Bose is overpriced for home theater equipment (except that at least Monster is a bit more ethical). I prefer AudioQuest's CinemaQuest cables (warning, stupidly huge and annoying Flash site), but unfortunately only Monster makes decent quality PS2 cables (don't know about GCN cables). I rarely use my PS2 so I haven't bothered, but if I ever do I'll probably end up with Monster. If you have an XBox and must buy Monster, at least buy the Microsoft HD pack and a set of standard component cables, rather than Monster's half-assed attempt at an XBox-specific cable. Too many people have had too many problems with those.

Hopefully the console manufacturers learn from Microsoft's example for the next generation and either incorporate proper outputs on the back of the box (non-proprietary YPrPb being required, with S-CART and DVI optional, ideally), or use a break-out box that lets you provide your own cabling (provide low-quality shit for people that don't care, but give those of us who do the ability to use good cables).

The official component cable is garbage. I bought both the Microsoft cable, and the Monster Version (the 80 dollar version), put them side by side on a HD Widescreen Projection TV. It's a world of difference. If the reason you don't want that is because of the component's look, get the monster cable. It is my media center.

The cables included in the Microsoft HD pack are light gauge cables. However, unlike the Monster solutions I've seen, the cables aren't important. The A/V box is separate, allowing you to use whatever high-quality cables you please. Microsoft did the Right Thing (tm) here, compared to Nintendo's integrated component cables (GC adaptor on one end, YPrPb RCA plugs on the other, light gauge crappy wire). The price would be much more than $20 if they had included good cables, but if you care you can simply go and buy a better set of cables.

Also, if you're going to spend $80 on cables, at least go to a good Hi Fi store (ie, not Circuit City, Best Buy, CompUSA, etc) and buy a good set of cables (Monster cables are typically overpriced for the quality; I personally prefer Audioquest/Cinemaquest cables). And don't forget to get a good optical audio cable while you're at it. DD 5.1 is a must-have feature for games, IMHO!