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Is Monster cable getting better?

I don’t like monster cables in general and I know it has bad reputation(nothing but marketing) among audiophile & videophile. It is like bragging about your Bose system to people playing high end audio.

I don’t know why but not many high end cable company makes hdmi cable. So I picked up a Monster 1000HD hdmi at best buy and thought Monster is all about marketing and its performance would be easily surpassed by other cable company. I tried Audioquest hdmi3(not sure if it is genuine but bought from an A’gon member with 500+ positive feedback), bluejean, bettercable, monoprice… Monoprice has the worst performance but it only sell for $5. Some silver cables might render a little more detail than the Monster 1000HD, but the contrast and color and overall performance are still not as good as the Monster. The monster 1000HD looks very natural and smooth without loosing details.

I guess I am done with hdmi cable search and will stick with Monster for hdmi cable. Has anybody tried the Monster M2000 and is it much better than 1000HD? For audio cable I am using transparent and haven’t tried Monster yet. Maybe they are getting better, too.
yxlei
nyctc7
91 posts
 
Sonic-wise I thought the Monster M2.4s speaker cable compared very favorably to the similarly priced Purist Audio Musaeus. Build quality-wise I thought the Musaeus a bit better. So I think Monster quite capable of making good-sounding cables, but their build quality is not quite up to the smaller, specialty cable companies.
wehamilton
65 posts
 
your Monster. I own all three and now just use the Monster as a back-up in case I ever want to hook up an extra component.

I bought mine at a big box store too, and thought it was decent until I bought the PS Audio copper/silver HDMI cable for my stereo and broke it in on my flatscreen. The Monster went on the shelf. Then I bought the PS Audio all silver HDMI and broke it in on the TV also. I love it, and it is slightly better than the other one, but it's going on the stereo and the copper/silver cable will go back on the TV.

Yes, the PS Audio cables cost more, but you can literally see and hear the difference. If you have a revealing audio system or HD TV, then it's worth the extra money.

As to your question, are they getting better? I guess I'd say compared to what? For most people, the Monster1000 would probably be acceptable, but I've just given you two that are better. The decision is yours.
hotmailjbc
571 posts
 
i was a rep for monster cable in the late 70s and they raised the bar for a while. recently i needed a pr of ics and all they have around here in the sticks is monster cable and they were so tight they broke the plugs on the back of my amplifier.i bet this has happened to other consumers and will never buy them again. but the whipping they take is a bit much, now bose is another issue entirely. 3 dollar tweeters? sorry
angelgz2
43 posts
 
I've recently dissected a few newer models from Monster Cables, the iCable, the HD1000 and some ICs. My findings are the following:

1. Poor quality copper, noticeably lighter and less dense. When you touch them they don't feel like metal at all.

2. Poor quality connection -- easily broken due to the tight RCA connector (the solider work is so bad that it's not even close to what it used to be)

3. Noticeably cheaper material used, i.e. the insulation and the RCA connectors.

Bottom line: Compared to the old school "Monster Standard", the newer line of cables are not even close in terms of material used and the craftsmanship

The iCable cost $29.99 in retail stores and in my opinion not even worth $2.99.

The so-called "THX Certified" interconnects are equivalent to "I am a piece of junk".
chrisr's avatar
chrisr
543 posts
 
I have heard a much better sound out of my son's electric guitar and my Roland v-drum set with monster cable. They offer a lot of improvements compared to the cheap interconnects found in music stores in terms of NOISE, dynamics and clarity.
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