I’m not looking to fuel the debate over whether or not high-end AV cables are as effective as claimed or just snake oil, but I can’t see the sum of the parts going into these AudioQuest cables adding up to a price tag of well over $8,000. Even if they’re made of “Solid PSS Silver” and feature “Dual Star-Quad Geometry.” But if stuff like this didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be blessed with comments from satisfied users on Amazon like this one from Valannin “Pantheon Outcast”:

If there is one cable I would whole-heartedly trust to my Chimera-hunting needs, this would be the cable. No other cable has the tensile strength to properly and efficiently garrote a lycanthrope, asphyxiate an Esquilax or even gag a mermaid. Last week, using my trusty AudioQuest K2 (retrofitted with lead weights, bright orange latex paint and a generous coating of crushed glass stolen from the window of an abandoned church at midnight), I managed to snuff 3 golden unicorns in swift succession!

Pros: Quickly tears through scales, fur, bone, and adamantium with ease
Coils and uncoils from hip holster (optional) quickly and quietly
For a product fabricated from 1,000 Onyx Dragon fetuses, the price is unbelievably reasonable!

Cons: Shipping from the R’lyeh took far too long
Doesn’t come in 10′ lengths (which would be perfect for hydra, cerberii and other multi-headed creatures)
After every use, I can feel 6 ounces of my soul slipping from my core into the ether. But this may be due to the fact that I prefer to work without gloves. YMMV.

Overall, I would recommend that any hunter buy one, nay, two, of these immediately, and experience the difference that upgrading to the K2 will make in your next quest!

Update: It looks like Amazon has put these cables on sale for just $6,800, so at that price I’d recommend buying two sets which will save you $3,300 in the long run.

[ Amazon - AudioQuest K2 Terminated Speaker Cable ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Running cable is a pain, regardless of what it’s for. Be it networking cable, wires for your TV, or anything else, it always gets tangled up and looks unsightly. Sure, you can try to run it through your walls, or install some sort of cable management system that hides it, but these aren’t always viable options. One company thinks they have the perfect solution, called Wiretape.

These Wiretape cables are super-thin (sadly we don’t have exact measurements) strips that are essentially flattened-out versions of your regular cables. They are so thin, in fact, that you can hide them away simply by affixing them to a wall and painting over them. This also makes them great for hiding under carpets and such. The cables are supposed to be rather durable as well, as they are touted to withstand extreme temperatures and can be folded numerous times. We should see these available in USB, HDMI, Cat5, VGA and other flavors sometime in September.

[ Wiretape ] VIA [ GearLog ]

By Evan Ackerman

A couple years ago, we posted about some self-described “audiophiles” who pitted premium Monster Cables against soldered coat hangers to see if there was any audible difference. And shockingly, shockingly, there wasn’t. Those cables were analog, and in the world of digital signals, cables should make even less of a difference, but that hasn’t stopped companies from betting that people are rich and dumb and trying sell you on them. After the jump, check out the rest of the above graphic, which makes it perfectly clear that you only buy expensive HDMI cables if you hate starving children.

[ Mint.com ]VIA [ DVICE ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I like keeping my office looking good, and thus I tend to purchase items that will compliment the ones I already have. One thing I don’t usually put too much thought into is my network cables (or any other cables for that matter). I have a nice spool of blue Cat5e that suits me just fine, and I make new cables as needed. After all, it’s not like anyone should be seeing my cables, so who cares? Well if you’re someone that cares, and has an insatiable need for all things pink, then I think I’ve found something right up your alley.

Cables Unlimited has released a line of cabling that is aimed at pink-loving geeks everywhere. You can choose from networking, HDMI, 3.5mm audio, USB and AC power cables. Each are colored pink and feature a number of crystals embedded in them. I can’t say I know anyone that would go so far as to buy pink cables, but at least those that do can be comforted knowing they are supporting a good cause. 10% of the proceeds go toward the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Cables range in price from $9.99 to $24.99.

[ Cables Unlimited ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

By Evan Ackerman

Computers spend a lot of time thinking that they’re smarter than us. Like, with USB: your computer figures that it’ll just start firing up all of its software and whatnot whenever you plug something in, like your iPod or iPhone. Well, you know what? Sometimes we don’t want to sync our data. Sometimes we don’t want to automatically fire up iTunes and spend 10 minutes backing up our iPhones when we just needed a little bit of a charge, and God forbid the iPhone gets plugged into a different computer that tries to delete all of the music that’s on it…

You know what? NO.

Hence, this USB cable with a little switch that lets you decide whether you want a data connection, or just a power connection. The iPod/iPhone version is $13, and there are other USB adapters for $10 each. Yes, it’s more expensive than a cable without the switch, but if you don’t get one, you’re basically just admitting that your computer is smarter than you, and then the machines win. I mean, you don’t hate humanity, do you? Do you?

[ USB Fever ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

While it’s convenient that the iPhone and the entire iPod line (minus the old-school firewire versions) can recharge over USB, I’m sure at one time or another we’ve all been in the situation where you connected your device to someone else’s computer to charge it, only to have it try and sync with their copy of iTunes. But the Sync Blocker cable solves that problem with a simple switch that can be set to charging & HotSync, or just charging. It’s just $12.99 from USBFever.com and supports all of the iPhones and iPod Touches, as well as the more recent versions of the iPod Classic and Nano.

[ Sync Blocker USB to Dock connector cable for iPhone / iPod ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Evan Ackerman

From the Brando’s ‘obviously great idea’ department (which they seem to be paying attention to more and more lately) comes this brilliant (albeit slightly flowery) USB cable with an integrated SD/SDHC card reader. It works just like a normal USB cable, except that plugging an SD card into the slot will terminate the USB connection and your computer will start reading the SD card. Whatever you have plugged into the cable will continue charging, though.

At the moment, the SD reader only only works one way on the cable, but it would be pretty neat if you somehow had the option to read the card from the device you had plugged in, or vice versa. Even so, it’s a steal at $12, considering you could easily pay that much for a USB cable or a card reader.

[ Brando ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

Well here’s something I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a few months now. MonoPrice.com (who doesn’t actually make the cable as far as I know) has revealed that come March 15th they’ll be selling a Mini Display Port to HDMI adapter for the low, low price of just $14.25. Unless you can find 50 or more friends who’d also like one, at which point the price drops to just $12 each. The adapter was originally supposed to be available in January of this year, though it’s pretty obvious that didn’t happen. But it’s better late than never, particularly since it doesn’t seem like Apple will be providing one of their own, and even if they did, the ‘Apple tax’ would put it well above $15.

[ Monoprice - Mini Display Port To HDMI Adapter ] VIA [ Engadget HD ]

Tired of your guitar being laughed at by all the other guitars at rehearsal? Well I guarantee they won’t be laughing once you connect one of these bad-to-the-bone pistol shaped cables. Ok, technically it’s just the jack that’s pistol shaped… Ok, just the jack’s sheathing, but it still shows all those other musicians you’re not taking any crap! The cables feature “99.99% oxygen-free copper conductors and dual-shielded construction with a single end termination for strikingly fuller tone and drastic noise reduction, quality-molded connectors with corrosion-resistant 24K gold-plated tips to preserve signal strength, and flexible symbol-printed jackets” and come in lengths of 12 ft ($24.95) or 20 ft ($27.95) from Core One Creative.

[ Pistol Instrument Cable ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Luke Anderson

If you’ve ever worked at a retail store, you probably know that the margin on most types of cabling is huge. The store only pays a few bucks for that $15 ethernet cable you picked up (or just about any other kind), which is why they’re always suggesting you get one. If you do a lot of networking, you learn to make your own ethernet cables. This is good for two reasons, you make it the exact length you need and you save a lot of money. Well it seems that the same theory will soon be applied to HDMI cables.

Audioquest has announced a like of HDMI connectors that can be terminated by anyone with the right tools. The 19 wires that make up an HDMI cable might look a little daunting (an ethernet cable only uses 8), but their system works by splitting those into a set of 9 and one of 10. By crimping these separately, you’ll save yourself a lot of hassle. They even claim that crimping the wires produces a better signal than with current soldering techniques (take that Monster Cable!). We still don’t know anything about pricing, so it’s entirely possible that this sort of thing will cost more than pre-made cables, but hopefully that won’t be the case.

[ Audioquest ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]