4K/8K HDMI

Just as 4K technology and content have matured, customers are now seeing 8K TVs in stores and the eventual transition from HDMI 2.0 to HDMI 2.1. Naturally questions arise. First and foremost, are AudioQuest HDMI cables compatible with 8K and the new features potentiated by HDMI 2.1?

The answer, of course, is Yes.

All AudioQuest 18Gbps High Speed HDMI are guaranteed to have the 18Gbps bandwidth required for compelling features like 8K/30, HDR (High Dynamic Range) and eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel).

Pearl HDMI

Pearl HDMI features Solid Long-Grain Copper (LGC) Conductors. Specific attention has been paid to maximizing the performance of HDMI, and indeed, AudioQuest's HDMI cables push sonic performance to new levels.

4K/8K

AudioQuest 18Gbps High Speed HDMI cables have the bandwidth required for video up to 8K/30 (8-bit, 4:2:0), which is 7680 x 4320 resolution (over 33 million pixels) at up to 30 frames-per-second (fps). 24 and 30 fps are the frame rates for almost all movies and many TV shows.

eARC

HDMI hardware’s previous ARC capabilities max out at lossy (compressed) 5.1-channel surround sound. Not only do all generations of AudioQuest HDMI cables “with Ethernet” support ARC, but in order to ensure superior audio performance, the ARC-channel conductor-pair is internally controlled for direction, running in the opposite direction from the 4 pairs that carry information to the TV. Upcoming HDMI 2.1 hardware supports Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), which increases bandwidth dramatically to support uncompressed and lossless high-resolution multichannel audio, including Dolby TrueHD and Atmos, and DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS: X. All AudioQuest HDMI cables “with Ethernet” have the conductors and bandwidth required for eARC’s enhanced sonic capabilities.

18G

All AudioQuest 18Gbps High Speed HDMI cables are guaranteed to have the 18Gbps bandwidth required for compelling features like 8K/30 video, HDR (High Dynamic Range) imagery, and eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel).

HDR

AudioQuest 18Gbps High Speed HDMI cables support High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Dynamic HDR. HDR content expands the contrast of the image for blacker blacks and brighter whites/highlights as well as greater color saturation and brightness. Dynamic HDR (HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision for example) enables frame-by-frame HDR optimization rather than HDR settings that are fixed for the entire program.

HDMI ACTIVE

AudioQuest Pearl, Forest and Cinnamon HDMI make use of Active Frequency-Equalization to enable full 18Gbps/4K UltraHD performance from 10 to 15 meters.

SOLID LONG-GRAIN COPPER (LGC) CONDUCTORS

Solid Long-Grain Copper (LGC) allows a smoother and clearer sound than cables using regular OFHC (Oxygen-Free High-Conductivity) copper. Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of distortion. The surface quality is critical because a conductor can be considered as a rail-guide for both the electric fields within a conductor, and for the magnetic fields outside the conductor. LGC has fewer oxides within the conducting material, less impurities, less grain boundaries, and definitively better performance.

DIRECTIONALITY-HDMI

All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. All signal conductors controlled for digital-audio direction in AudioQuest HDMI cables, and care is even taken to run the conductors used in the Audio Return Channel in the opposite direction to ensure the best performance for that application. Arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality.

FOAMED-POLYETHYLENE INSULATION

Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy. Some of this energy is stored and then released as distortion. Because air absorbs next to no energy and Polyethylene is low-loss and has a benign distortion profile, Foamed-PE, with its high air content, causes much less of the out-of-focus effect common to other materials.

HIGH SPEED DATA CAPACITY

HDMI standards and capabilities have improved significantly since DVI first evolved into HDMI. All generations are backward compatible. However, not all previous HDMI cables can transmit the full 18Gbps of data required to optimize today’s HDMI 2.0 equipment. While there is currently no 4K/60 4:4:4 software requiring the full 18Gbps capability of HDMI, some sources (UHD Blu-ray players) can be set to “up-sample”, requiring 18Gbps capability. Up-sampling often should be done in the TV rather than in a previous component — but that’s your decision. AudioQuest HDMI cables with "Exceeds 18 G bps" on the box front are guaranteed to exceed the requirements for all possible HDMI data streams.