Kimber HDMI


Is anyone running Kimber Cable HDMI cables in their systems? Or if anyone has experience with them what are your thoughts pro or con?
billzy
They might be "good for the money", but only if they use solid-core conductors.  Their HDMI cables are not marketed or described anywhere as having "solid core" conductors, which leads me to believe they are stranded.  Maybe you can reach out to Kimber and ask them if you are really interested (though at the price point I suspect they are stranded).  The HD29 uses the largest 24awg conductors which are good if they are solid-core, but does not have the Ethernet return channel (no ARC audio).

You might be better off getting a used Wire World Starlight 5-2 or 6 series (do not get the newer DLNA Helix designs). If you're looking for a good cable on a budget, the cryo-treated Neotech NEHH-4200 available from Audio Sensibility in Canada for about $100 USD on a 2 meter is the one to get.

If you want the best HDMI cable (within reason), then go for the Nordost Heimdall 2. 

Always get 2 meter (never 1 meter).
Auxinput
Thanks for your advice. The Nordost is out of my league budget wise but I ordered both a Starlight 5-2 and a Neotech NEHH-4200 both in 2 meters to try and compare. What do you suggest for longer runs say around 3 meters or longer?

Either of these cables would be fine for 3 meters.  When you get to 5 meters, the 24awg Starlight 5-2/6 will probably be fine.  The Neotech might be okay as well.  If you are doing high bandwidth 4K, things might start to break down at 5+ meters and you might need to get an active cable (i.e. a cable with an active booster circuit/chip).
The Neotech is a great cable for low budget, but it has smaller 26 awg conductors.  It's not going to have as much bass or "oomph" in the audio as the larger 24awg Starlight 5-2.  Both cables are solid-core, but the Starlight 5-2 has an extra thick silver plating on the conductors.  The Starlight would have better color saturation as well (bolder and more solid color).
I found another 2 meter Starlight and purchased it as well. I couldn't find a Starlight long enough for run to television so I am going to try an Ultraviolet by Wireworld and see how it does. I got a really good deal on it and I'm hoping it will be better than the AQ I am currently using.
Thanks for your help!
Not able to track down a WW Silver Starlight I went on the hunt and tried three cables the AQ Coffee ( thin bottom end) , WW Ultra Violet ( more midrange emphasis) the last cable was the DH Labs Silver Sonic which had better coherence from top to bottom a fleshed out bottom end , also exceeded the other two covering more lower and upper octaves. The most noticeable character of the Silver Sonic it doesn't sound digital !
The Ultraviolet and Chroma cables are the only ones that still have the original single-conductor design. The Ultraviolet is the same as Starlight 5-2/6 except with a thin silver-plating. I tried Chroma, which does not have silver plating -- Chroma was okay but nothing special with sound that was balanced but a little low resolution and video that had just a tiny bit of noise. I have not tried Ultraviolet.

The original Silver Starlight 5-2 cables are also excellent, though not quite as good as Nordost Heimdall but in different ways. SS 5-2 was the only cable ever to use OCC copper for conductors. The SS 5-2 has better high frequency resolution and better bass than Heimdall, but Heimdall sounds more natural/realistic and has better saturated video. SS 5-2 can come across just a tiny bit bright in the highs on some systems, but others it is excellent. They are extremely hard to find, however.

I did try a Silver Starlight 7 (which uses DLNA Helix). I suppose this is a decent cable, but in the end it was not really any different than the $100 Neotech cable. WW advertises this as a 23awg cable, but it actually uses 2 x 26awg wires for each main signal conductor. Two problems here: 1. smaller conductors just don’t have the "oomph", and 2. I think it creates small timing errors on the digital pulses because the 2 x 26awg conductors are twisted around in a way that creates unequal length conductors. The older Starlight 5-2/6 cables were much better than this newer design. It looks like Wire World has abandoned this multiple-conductor DLNA Helix design with their new cables, but they have stopped publishing conductor awg sizes.

I tried AQ Vodka (which is just one step below Coffee) and was incredibly disappointed. Like jdub39 said, bass was thin and upper mids/highs were thin as well (video was "okay" I guess). I actually found out directly from an AQ support person that my 2 meter Vodka used extremely small 30 awg conductors. I expected a lot more from a "$500 retail" cable. Even the WW Silver Starlight 7 (which used the DLNA Helix design) was better. The $100 Neotech NEHH-4200 was a lot better than this AQ $500 cable.

I see Amazon is blowing out the previous Vodka HDMI for cheap ($169). I don’t think their new "48" cables are doing to be any different other than being re-branded with a new name. I love the Audioquest NRG power cables and 44/88 speaker cables, but I think they dropped the ball on the HDMI cables.