Cable for Life: Are Monster's futureproof cables worth the price?
Cable for Life: The futureproof guarantee
(Credit: Monster Cable)Monster Cable today announced a new upgrade program intended to guarantee forward-compatibility for the company's high-end HDMI cables. Beginning in mid-September, Monster's Home Theater Ultra 1000, M Series M1000HD and 1000HD cable lines will be emblazoned with the new "Cable for Life" logo. Monster is pledging to replace said cables, free of charge, when and if future products eventually appear that make use of higher bandwidth HDMI connections. For instance, current 1080p video streams max out at 8-bit color and 60Hz frame rate, which require about 4.46 gigabits per second of data bandwidth, but Monster is anticipating 12-bit, 120Hz 1080p video streams a few years down the road, which will require more than three times the throughput capacity. So the HDMI output on a 120Hz-capable Blu-ray player that hits the market in, say, 2010 may exceed the current bandwidth capacity of existing cables--and if you've got one of Monster's "lifers," you can swap up to a new one at that time. (Note that the "Cable for Life" guarantee is separate from the lifetime warranty found on many Monster Cables.)
To be sure, the Cables for Life guarantee sounds great--but is it worth it?
A 4-foot M1000 cable will set you back $150. While that cable may be guaranteed "forever," you could instead buy a no-name 6-footer at Monoprice for less than $16. Yeah, the Monoprice one may crap out after a couple of years--at which time you could buy a replacement for another $20 or so. The skeptical geeks over at Gizmodo just did a three-part face-off between Monster and Monoprice HDMI cables, and--while their results weren't exactly conclusive--overall, they supported the notion that bargain cables perform just as well as premium cables in the vast majority of real-world scenarios. In other words, if you're not concerned with compatibility with future video bandwidth--which you might not encounter for years, if ever--the bargain cables are a much more cost-effective solution.
Gizmodo: The Truth about Monster Cable: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Agree? Disagree? Add your comments to this Crave entry, or jump into the fracas in the CNET forums (Premium cables: ripoff or required?).
John P. Falcone covers home theater and network entertainment products. He's been writing for CNET since 2002. 
Even analog sound sounds the same whether you are using Monster cable or just crappy 2 conductor zip cord and I still defy anyone to hear a difference in the sound output that the human ear hears.
Now Monster says their cabling is future proof? What a joke anyone spending money on that stuff is really been blindsided by the Monster hype. And its all a load of BS and always has been.
Its true that you can measure differences in cables with all the electronic gadgets they use for such purposes but in the end it all sounds the same to the human ear.
Now they got more hype going and no matter what you can use their cables for whatever digital signal you need. Theres no degradation of digital so in reality with the right connectors you can still use zip cord and get exactly the same result for a few dollars a meter as opposed to $100 or more per meter for the Monster crap. It just goes to show its all in how you spin the hype. And thats all it is, HYPE! Pure BS!
Strange, now that everything is going digital they can sit back and never worry about a upgrade or improvement because smart people have known all along that Monster was a load of crap and they just proved it by saying their products are future proof. I smell a reduction in Monster employees coming up since theres no further need to do anymore research, not that they ever did much anyway!
Cheers.
I still think buying the cheaper cables and upgrading when the need arises is a better use of your money.
I am absolutely NOT a Monster fan, but I think you misunderstood the program. Monster isn't saying their current cables are futureproof; They're saying that when new HDMI formats come out that require more bandwidth than their current cables allow then you can upgrade for free.
If you've done any research (or even read the Gizmodo story) then you know it's not as simple as "it's only 1's and 0's so any cable will do." Different quality cables carry those 1's and 0's differently and error correction can only help so much, especially over long distances.
The author makes a great point at the end by stating even with their "futureproof" cables, it's a better deal to by generic cables that work for your configuration and replace them when you need to.
I've personally bought smaller/no-name brands in the past and they have served me well. Sure, a big name like Sony is quality in name alone but are you willing to spend an absorbedant amount of change for technology that will change in say "six months"?
For the meantime I'll stick to my tactics and save moolah while I'm at it.
cables (and all "premium" cables, for that matter) and what he had to say was
rather intriguing. The cable manufacturers boast that the gold they plate the
tips of their cables with is a superior conductor of electricity, which, of
course, is true. But he went on to say that gold and copper do not meld to
each other, which of course means that there would have to be a 3rd layer of
metal in between the copper wire and gold tip in order for it to work. This is
exactly how they solve the problem; I think he said they use nickel, but I
forget. The point is, when all is said and done, what good is that extra
conducting if there's an extra layer of metal that the electricity has to get
through anyway? More importantly, is extra electricity the solution to
enhanced sound/video in the first place? (That's actually my question; I
honestly don't know.)
Monster cables are a ripoff. If this guy who OBSESSES over sound isn't willing
to shell out for a Monster cable (and it's not cause of $; he's got a ProTools
setup and everything) then why should anybody else? Unless, of course,
you've got an unsatiable urge to drain your checking account.
I've seldom had much in the way of proof that their audio cables are much better than cheaper solutions that cost a fraction of the price. I have noticed better results against unwanted interference and noise in the car with my aftermarket audio systems when I use better insulated wiring and interconnects, but whether it's supplied by Monster, Audioquest or someone else it hasn't made any appreciable difference in terms of sonic performance.
Frankly, as a "premium" cable supplier, Monster is actually one of the CHEAPER ones on the market. There are quite a few others that have products that go for a hell of a lot more than what Monster typically charges for even their best wire. That's not to say that they're really worth the upcharge or whether their products are actually better than the low priced wire you can get down at Radio Shack or ordered from sites like Newegg. Even if there's any improvement to be had, most people will likely never be able detect it by ear or eye anyways, at least in real world settings.
From my own experiences with premium interconnects (mostly audio, not data or video) and speaker cabling, I've found sonic improvements to be subtle at best in the vast majority of [i]quality[/i] installations. It's only with installs where there's a lot of issues with external interference (electromagnetic noise from high voltage overhead power lines, motors, etc.) where the better insulated cables really shines against the low end cheap stuff.
As for a "lifetime" solution...a nice-sounding idea but I too would question if there's really any value in it considering the pricing involved here. As long as the cheap generic HDMI cable works (I have rudely discovered that this can be a real headache as well, particularly with some of the poor-QC crap that's been coming out of China, but that's a slightly different issue), it seems that buying the equally cheap updated replacements as needed would be far better cost-wise in the long run.
Monster and the retailers have a cosy deal where they both make a ton of money and the consumer gets hosed.
I just received a DVI to HDMI cable delivered for less than $10.00 from Yahoo Shopping. It works just fine, thank-you.
The Monster DVI to HDMI cable at Best Buy was $100.00.
Go figure. Literally.
So they will continue to sell overpriced, outdated technology, and bank on the fact that when most people encounter the need for an update to their cable, they won't be able to find the receipt or the original packaging or whatever is required in the fine print to take advantage of this program. And since the fine print is nowhere to be found, I'm sure it will be limited to replacement of the original cable only (ie - 1 upgrade per cable).
This will sound great in Big Buy when your 19 year old e-waiter splurts out, "Don't worry! thhpppppt Monster will replace this expensive cable for life if it's ever not compatible!" Anyone who researches their significant purchases, however, would never touch a Monster cable.
Here's a link to the website of the engineer who designed the original Macintosh amps: http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
He probably knows a thing or two about the subject.
- by jesseberg September 16, 2009 12:16 AM PDT
- worth the money u are absolutely right! my name is jesse and ive been using monster for about 15 years now. i dont make very much money, so getting my moneys worth is very important to me. it really burns me up when the paranoid, idiotic lasy people that write these reviews dont even have a handful of there cables, and there playing with mediocre toys. MONSTER is for the big boys with big toys. u start playing with high end audio, disconnect that piece of @#$% standard rca from the back of your sub, then connect a monster sub cord and try to lie to the world that you dont hear ten times the impovement. it all comes down to resistance and niose in the cable. monster just gives u everything your source is worth, dont use the cables and your not getting near your sources full potetial. the same for video, on a larger picture u will always notice less video noise, better color, and a sharper picture when swapping the standard component cables for thx cert. monster components, as an example, but remember these are for big boys with big toys, a crappy home audio source that costs as much as a cable, or a small 37'' tv is not what monster is for. WHEN U GET INTO BIGGER, U NEED THE BETTER. now have some fun experimenting!
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