Solid conductors prevent strand-interaction, a major source of dynamic distortion in cables.

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.

This is the foundation of AudioQuest’s Noise-Dissipation technologies. Traditional “100% shielding” is not enough to guard against the increasingly prevalent effects of Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite radiation. In AudioQuest HDMI cables, all 19 conductors are Direction-Controlled to minimize the RF Noise that damages performance by “directing” or draining it away from the most vulnerable circuits. Additional Noise-Dissipation techniques (Levels 2 and up) are applied as budget permits to further reduce noise.

Because sound matters, the eARC conductor pairin AudioQuest's 48-Series HDMI cables receive equal love and affection, featuring the same superior metals, Direction-Controlled Conductors, and Noise-Dissipation technologies as the main AV data pairs. In AudioQuest eARC-Priority cables, the main A/V data pairs have Cinnamon-level performance (Forest 48’s solid 0.5% Silver + Carbon & Vodka 48’s Level-3 Noise-Dissipation), while the eARC data pair and Ground-Reference drain use all the same advanced design ingredients as their “48” counterparts. HDMI’s Audio Return Channel (ARC) sends audio from a TV to a soundbar or AV receiver for greater simplicity and flexibility in system setup. Hardware’s previous ARC capabilities max out at lossy (compressed) 5.1-channel surround sound. Today’s HDMI 2.1 hardware supports enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), which increases the digital bandwidth dramatically to support uncompressed and lossless high-resolution multichannel audio, including Dolby TrueHD and Atmos, and DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS: X.

AudioQuest's 18Gbps 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 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.

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.