Quote:
Originally Posted by
eke2k6 
The thing that cable haters don't realize is that you cannot change the conductivity (ie, silver/copper/unobtainium), without changing the flow of impulses. A cable change will ALWAYS have an effect on the output of the end device.
Now whether the changes are audible/visible, or even desirable, are all subjective. However, there is absolutely no denying the effect of cables.
Source: multiple physics classes.
Do cable have an influence on the physical signal transfer (voltage/current/frequency)? Yes. Can this have an effect on the data signal transfer? In certain situations it might. Does this matter for the sound quality of digital audio/video signals? No.
A digital data distribution either works or it works not (works as in "the receiving end gets the data the sender send out"). There is no ambiguity like in analog signals. Bad cable may lead to the loss of data but that would only result in gaps/skipping in your audio (or video) playback and not in any kind of quality difference in the analog audio data that is decoded from the digital data.

(Graph is for HDMI<->Picture but the principal is the same for USB<->Audio)
(Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57540275-221/still-more-reasons-why-all-hdmi-cable-are-the-same/ )
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kova4a 
Seriously, this has been debated a lot. I was talking to a guy who was completely sure that all hdmi cables are the same and it doesn't matter how much it costs - then I connected my ps3 to his tv using two different hdmi cables and I shut him up. The one was a $5 regular hdmi cable the other was a $20 flat hdmi cable and not only the quality was different but the contrast of the picture.
edit: I'm not saying that all those insane $100+ cables are worth it but something around 20 bucks is always better than the generic cheap stuff
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kova4a 
Well, I seriously don't even want to read it. The fact is that I have 2 cables that output different image quality. Just the fact that there is a big contrast change that is noticable right away and everyone I showed it to can see it proves that there's difference from cable to cable. I also thought before all hdmi cables are the same but I can't argue with my eyes.
I won't even start to argue with you on this. You obviously have your believes set straight and I don't argue on believes of any any kind. If you ever want to change your mind though the links provided by atomik are a really good read.