Hi Speed Cable Selection

One of the best kept secrets in the consumer electronics industry is the markup on cables sold with home entertainment equipment. If you look at the shelves at Best Buy you will find a large variation in the price of what seems to be the same cables. The truth is that in reality the cables are the same, at least for the purpose of your home entertainment system. Does it really matter if the ends on that Hi Speed USB cable are Gold? No.

While it is true that different metals such as Gold do have better properties when it comes to conducting electricity, and if you use sensitive test equipment you can tell the difference between these cables and others, in reality your home entertainment system really can’t tell the difference. So, what to do. Check the manual of your equipment and check what Spec of cable is recommended, then buy that cable. The only thing you are doing by buying a more expensive cable is wasting your money.

Just a note, the one thing that does matter is the wire order on the ends of a CAT 5 cable. There is a specific order to the wires which counteracts magnetic fields.