chances are that when you're putting
together your new PC battle station or
home theater one of the last things
you're thinking about is table length I
mean obviously you want to make sure
that you can get from A to B but other
than that how much does it really matter
especially in an age when most things
are digital and the usual mantra of
enthusiasts when it comes to cables is
it either works or it doesn't
just coil up the excess and throw it in
a corner right well let's start by
discussing things that are still analog
cables such as speaker wires VGA cables
you might still be using for older
monitors and RCA cables for connecting
AV equipment that doesn't have digital
jacks like HDMI or a Toslink I have to
take this sorry one moment line is
speaking analog signals depend on small
continuous changes in an electrical
waveform you can learn more about that
here but the gist of it is that because
analog signals rely on precise
variations in voltage they're
susceptible to interference as well as
degradation no longer they have to
travel the worse this gets so then for
this reason shorter cables are better as
well as thicker ones since they have
less electrical impedance which keeps
your signal from traveling as far as it
needs to this can result in an actual
improvement in picture or audio quality
but if you've moved off of analog cables
and gone completely digital you might be
a little surprised to know that lengths
can still matter for reasons other than
not wanting to have a huge tangled mess
of wires behind your setup let's start
with HDMI the common wisdom about HDMI
tables is that fancy thousand-dollar
cables like this one from wire world are
basically pure snake oil and one to spec
HDMI table is generally as good as a
which by the way you can learn more
about here but that doesn't mean that
length is irrelevant digital signals are
much less susceptible to interference
because information is being sent in
discrete binary chunks rather than a
continuous waveform so over short
distances this means that the wisdom is
true if the signal works it works and no
fancy cable or shorter cable will make
your colors brighter or your sounds
clearer but HDMI runs longer than 50
feet or 15 meters can result in blocky
artifacts or signal drops unless you use
a repeater or an active cable with
built-in electronics that boost the
signal but it isn't just AV cables that
have issues with signal strength I bet
you didn't know that USB cables also
have a maximum recommended length 5
meters for USB to a mere 3 meters for
USB 3 and anecdotal evidence would
suggest that more than a meter is tough
for USB 3.1 10 gigabit this is due to
electrical reflections that can happen
if there's not enough of a delay between
each bit of information being sent down
the pipe apparently this can even cause
damage to the cable or port go figure
so it's this delay that limits how long
the cable can be while still
transmitting data effectively but again
the solution is pretty simple and an
active cable or a powered USB hub that
acts as a repeater can bridge the gap so
if you're a DIY kind of person you can
even connect a pair of USB controllers
with an Ethernet cable since both cat5
and cat6 cables can reach all hundred
meters before signal losses and
interference with other circuits called
crosstalk start to become a problem but
so far we've only talked about
traditional copper cabling what if
you're using an optical cable instead
something like Toslink for surround
sound or an optical thunder
Kable well optical tables use light
which can be attenuated if the cable
isn't constructed well meaning that it
loses intensity at range along with its
ability to carry information think about
how a flashlight or the headlamps on
your car visibly get less powerful the
further away you are this is a common
problem in Toslink cables which tend to
be constructed with cheap plastic fiber
limiting their range to 10 meters at the
most on the other hand the more premium
Thunderbolt cables are often made of
data grade glass fibers which can
reflect a light beam down the pipe with
far less attenuation meaning you can get
them in lengths up to 60 meters at least
for thunderbolt to no word yet on
optical cables for Thunderbolt 3 so keep
these tips in mind if you find yourself
needing a long cable run it's one of
those few times in life where longer
doesn't necessarily mean better are you
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