Chord Company Shawline HDMI 2.0 AOC Cable - 5.0m Length - RRP £290
Shawline HDMI AOC uses a high-quality true HDMI 2.0 chipset at both ends of the cable and the highest OM3 grade (over 10 Gigabit bandwidth) glass fibres rather than the typical OM2 (up to 1 Gigabit bandwidth). Alongside the full 4K HDR picture quality, this premium high-speed cable benefits from the improved audio performance of optical fibre and is immune to HF noise.
Following concerns that copper-only cable is being stretched to the limit of its capability, for several years, we have been exploring optical technology for carrying the ever-more demanding signals required by the latest (and future) players, processors and screens. Unlike TOSLINK cables, where the entire signal is carried down optical fibres, HDMI AOC cable is a hybrid of 7 copper cables and 4 optical fibres.
The advantage of optical fibre is that it doesn’t pick up HF noise. The same cannot be said for the copper cables! This potential weakness, coupled with the longer cable lengths involved, means that HF noise on the signal earth is inevitable.
Even though this is a digital ‘optical’ cable, we must ensure that the copper cables are fully protected from external HF noise pollution, so beneath the external PVC jacket we have incorporated a double aluminium foil shielding system.