| Model: | Ultraviolet 7 HDMI | | Category: | Cable | | Suggested Retail Price: | $120 - 145 | | Description: | 1 and 2-meter video cables | | Manufacturer URL: | Wire World | | Model Picture: | View |
Like many home theater enthusiasts, I was skeptical about the ability of HDMI cables to improve (or degrade) video and audio quality - per the conventional theory, the signals are digital, and the cables either work - presumably perfectly - or don't, so there's supposedly nothing to gain by trying better cables. While this may be the boilerplate theory, in practice it's untrue. Case in point, the Wireworld Ultraviolet HDMI cable under review here.
Initial positive impressions: The video quality improved exponentially in virtually every aspect as compared to the well-regarded cables they replaced - the much-recommended and largely praised Monoprice HDMIs, in a variety of lengths and gauges. Films were simply more film-like, with depth and dimensionality that had been absent with the Monoprice cables. My Pioneer plasma is not 3-D, but the sense of three-dimensionality was impressive...and no wonky 3-D glasses to have to wear! Detail and sharpness increased radically, bringing textures to life...the fabrics of clothing, skin textures, all the variations of life. Film is capable of tremendous resolution and detail; it appears that, theory be damned, lesser cables are not delivering all the quality that's potentially in the source. Mind, this is with the sharpness control of the Pioneer plasma properly set to near its lowest setting, to avoid the false detail and ringing common with the factory-delivered settings.
Colors became both richer and solider with the Ultraviolets, rendering many more subtle shades and hues more visible and realistic. Blacks, especially, were improved, noticeably deeper and less noisy; black level is one of the key factors in great video presentation, better blacks (that don't hide low-level details in the murk) giving a much more realistic picture. Black-and-white films could look spectacular, whether I was viewing classics such as "The Third Man" and "Casablanca" or modern, soon-to-be classics like "Schindler's List," which was a knockout film with the Ultraviolets in place. I should note, as this is a review of both the 1-meter and 2-meter lengths, I'm currently using two 2-meter Ultraviolet cable runs: one between a Dish satellite receiver and my AVR, and another connecting the AVR to my plasma display, while a 1-meter length connects a Pioneer Blu-ray BDP-62FD player to the AVR. As soon as I saw the improvement on Blu-ray, I called my Wireworld dealer [Liquid HiFi, an authorized dealer who offers great prices and service; email for Liquid HiFi: ronaldbuffington@msn.com], to order another 2m length for my satellite receiver. While the satellite reception is generally good, any improvement in quality is warmly appreciated...and the Ultraviolet delivers in spades, whether it's used with Blu-ray, DVD, or satellite.
If I say less about the audio performance, it's because the jump in audio performance with my video sources, while noticeable, seemed in my system of a lesser magnitude than the dramatic increase in video performance. Audio presentation was clearer, with less grit and smear in the sound, more detailed without introducing spitty high-frequency tizz. Voices in particular were more resolved, allowing me to more clearly parse dialogue. I haven't yet played any purely music media through my video system, so I can't comment on the sound rendered by SACD, DVD-A, or even ordinary CDs; I'll update this review with more detailed sonic impressions once I listen critically to sources other than films and television through my video system (which is completely separate from my main audio system; unfortunately, I cannot use an HDMI connection with my audio system, which only has analogue inputs).
Over the last couple of weeks my initial positive impressions were confirmed on a daily basis; there were no notable changes in performance during the first hundred hours of use, so break-in might not be a significant issue with the Ultraviolets.
As for the one negative comment I could make: These cables have a flat profile and are rather stiff horizontally, so if your equipment sits side-by-side, as does some of mine, rather than vertically in a rack, they're a bit less maneuverable in handling acute bends than typical round-profile cables, and a longer length might be required so bends can be made more gradually. At first I tried a 1m cable between my satellite receiver and AVR; it just reached, but I could see that lateral stress was being applied to the female HDMI chassis connectors. Fragile as these POS connectors are (didn't engineers learn ANYTHING about designing a secure and robust connector in the last hundred years?), I did not want to risk breaking the chassis connectors and putting the system out-of-order, so I opted for a 2m length, which obviated the problem. And that's it so far for downsides.
As you probably have noticed by now, I am very happy with these cables. They're really well built, with high-quality construction and materials, and very reasonably priced cables delivering great performance...and yet they're only mid-way along the Wireworld line of HDMI cables. While I may well get even better performance with Wireworld cables further up the price and performance line, I'm content for now to enjoy the higher-quality video I gained in my system with the Ultraviolets.
| Product Weakness: | Lateral stiffness | | Product Strengths: | Resolution, Detail, Build quality |
Associated Equipment for this Review:| Amplifier: | Yamaha AVR | | Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | N/A | | Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Pioneer Elite BDP-62FD Blu-ray; Dish satellite receiver | | Speakers: | Sound Dynamics 300Ti, Von Schweikert center channel | | Cables/Interconnects: | Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 HDMI, Goertz M1 speaker cables, MIT power cords | | Music Used (Genre/Selections): | None | | Time Period/Length of Audition: | 2 weeks | | Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | MIT Iso-Strip | | Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
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If you haven't heard it, you don't have an opinion.
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