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Whether you’re connecting a game console to a TV, a computer to a monitor, or a media streamer to a projector, the one accessory you’ll need is an HDMI cable.
The single cable carries both video (up to 4K) and audio (up to 192kHz), and has become the defacto standard for connecting electronics released in the past ten years. So, if you have a lot of devices, you’re going to need a lot of HDMI cables, and it’s worth investing in some good ones.
One very important thing to note is that your audio and video experience will be limited by the HDMI port on your TV. Every few years, a new HDMI version is released, and with it comes new features — support for higher resolution video, a faster refresh rate (the amount of times per second that a screen updates its picture), more bandwidth (raw audio and video information), and high dynamic range.
The HDMI cable you use may support the latest and greatest features, but if your TV doesn’t, you won’t be able to take advantage of them. The most recent HDMI version is 2.1, and it was released in November of 2017. If your TV is newer than that, you should be fine; if not, your mileage may vary.
Newer cablesare compatible with older TVs — I’ve used a cable purchased this year with a TV from 2006, and it works perfectly, but again, I can’t take advantage ofall the features the cable is cable of. With that out of the way, here are the HDMI cables we recommend.
What Are The Best HDMI Cables?
There are many factors to think about when choosing the right HDMI cable for you; below are the most important ones, which we considered while we were researching this list.
Length: The quality of an HDMI cable won’t matter if it’s not long enough to connect your gadgets — we chose cables that are available in several sizes to suit more situations.
Durability:It’s inevitable that cables will be twisted, bent, and moved over the years, but our picks should last several years of general wear and tear.
HDMI Version: Not everybody has a TV that’s compatible with HDMI 2.1, so we chose options that are best-suited for a wide spectrum of needs — each one covers the basics (most importantly 4K video support) very well.
