How Does a $3 HDMI Cable Compare to a $120 One?

It should be a secret to no one that there exist a lot of “snake oil” audio and video cables out there, in the sense that they are overpriced but do the same job as a modestly-priced alternative. Most often, even the companies themselves can’t seem to produce definitive proof, and you’d be hard-pressed to see even the most hardcore mediaphile put their reputation on the line to recommend them.

In fact, as we discovered back in 2007, luxury audio cable provider Pear Cable withdrew from a $1 million challenge for what I’m sure are obvious reasons. But, are all cables equal? While audio cables might not differ much on the low or high-end, what about something else, such as HDMI?

That was a question PC Mag wanted answered. The editors there picked up five different cables, ranging from $3 up to $120. For the sake of accurate testing, each cable was 6′ long. Three tests were run, including running the HQV suite, having people watch the same movie with each cable, and then 3D testing.

When all said and done, the site found that the $3 cable, as non-descript as it was, performed just as well as the $120 Monster cable. The reasons boil down to the fact that when you are purchasing expensive cables, you are purchasing technology and bloat that has no discernible impact on the AV stream. It’s only when you need a cable more than 10′ that you may look to a more expensive offering – but that’s an unlikely scenario for most people.

The truth is, for most HDTV setups, there is absolutely no effective difference between a no-name $3 HDMI cable you can order from Amazon.com and a $120 Monster cable you buy at a brick-and-mortar electronics store. We ran five different HDMI cables, ranging in price from less than $5 up to more than $100, through rigorous tests to determine whether there’s any difference in a dirt-cheap cable and one that costs a fortune.