The Platinum Starlight 7, Silver Starlight 7, Starlight 7 and Silver Starlight 6 HDMI cables (along with Silver Starlight 6) all use the DNA Helix design. These are described as 23awg cables, but they are actually 2 x 26awg wires for each of the main HDMI signal conductors. I have personally tested the Silver Starlight 7 HDMI cable and it just did not perform as well as the other cables.
The $500 2 meter Silver Starlight 7 performed just about the same as my $100 cryo-treated Neotech NEHH-4200 HDMI cable. The Neotech is only a lightly silver plated 26awg conductors, but it performs at the same level. For video, I can see just a little bit of video noise. Audio was okay, but a little bit thin/bright and not as strong in bass.
The "Starlight 5-2" HDMI cable performed so much better than "Silver Starlight 7". The Starlight 5-2 uses silver-clad 24awg OFC solid-core copper conductors. Bass was a lot better as well as overall sound resolution. I also did not see the video noise with this cable as I did with "Silver Starlight 7".
The "Silver Starlight 5-2" uses the exact same design as "Starlight 5-2", but uses a much better OCC copper. It is still heavily silver clad 24awg conductors. This OCC cable just has significantly better color saturation and color sharpness/solidness in the video. Audio is also better. The "Starlight 5-2" was just a very tiny bit harsh in the audio when compared to the OCC "Silver Starlight 5-2".
I don’t know the reason why the new DNA Helix isn’t as good. One theory is that they use 2 x 26awg conductors for sending a digital signal. Those conductors are twisted along in the cable and could end up being unequal lengths. The +/- signal conductors in this cable are also twisted. This will cause distortion in the timing of the digital pulses. This is exactly Nordost’s theory and why they only engineer "parallel conductor" HDMI cables instead of twisted pair wiring. The 5-2 cables use the same parallel conductor design. Another theory is that 26awg conductors just don't have the oomph as the larger 24awg conductors.
I have taken a look at that Tubulus HDMI cable. It looks like a great design. Uses pure silver solid-core conductors. The Revelation Audio Labs i2s cable on audiogon also uses pure silver solid-core (but they have had a history of bad customer service and massive manufacturing/shipping delays). You can also look at Crystal Cable HDMI from thecableco.com. However, none of these manufacturers actually tell you what awg the conductors are. Audioquest has their Diamond "pure silver", but I know that Audioquest uses very small conductors (like 30awg or 32awg). This is not going to have the impact that large conductor cables provide.
In addition, pure silver can be excellent, or it can come across as somewhat bright and sterile in some systems (even on digital cables). The Silver Starlight 5-2 with a good amount of OCC copper will provide a warmer and less bright/cold sound.
The $500 2 meter Silver Starlight 7 performed just about the same as my $100 cryo-treated Neotech NEHH-4200 HDMI cable. The Neotech is only a lightly silver plated 26awg conductors, but it performs at the same level. For video, I can see just a little bit of video noise. Audio was okay, but a little bit thin/bright and not as strong in bass.
The "Starlight 5-2" HDMI cable performed so much better than "Silver Starlight 7". The Starlight 5-2 uses silver-clad 24awg OFC solid-core copper conductors. Bass was a lot better as well as overall sound resolution. I also did not see the video noise with this cable as I did with "Silver Starlight 7".
The "Silver Starlight 5-2" uses the exact same design as "Starlight 5-2", but uses a much better OCC copper. It is still heavily silver clad 24awg conductors. This OCC cable just has significantly better color saturation and color sharpness/solidness in the video. Audio is also better. The "Starlight 5-2" was just a very tiny bit harsh in the audio when compared to the OCC "Silver Starlight 5-2".
I don’t know the reason why the new DNA Helix isn’t as good. One theory is that they use 2 x 26awg conductors for sending a digital signal. Those conductors are twisted along in the cable and could end up being unequal lengths. The +/- signal conductors in this cable are also twisted. This will cause distortion in the timing of the digital pulses. This is exactly Nordost’s theory and why they only engineer "parallel conductor" HDMI cables instead of twisted pair wiring. The 5-2 cables use the same parallel conductor design. Another theory is that 26awg conductors just don't have the oomph as the larger 24awg conductors.
I have taken a look at that Tubulus HDMI cable. It looks like a great design. Uses pure silver solid-core conductors. The Revelation Audio Labs i2s cable on audiogon also uses pure silver solid-core (but they have had a history of bad customer service and massive manufacturing/shipping delays). You can also look at Crystal Cable HDMI from thecableco.com. However, none of these manufacturers actually tell you what awg the conductors are. Audioquest has their Diamond "pure silver", but I know that Audioquest uses very small conductors (like 30awg or 32awg). This is not going to have the impact that large conductor cables provide.
In addition, pure silver can be excellent, or it can come across as somewhat bright and sterile in some systems (even on digital cables). The Silver Starlight 5-2 with a good amount of OCC copper will provide a warmer and less bright/cold sound.