With the latest wave of next gen consoles looming ever closer, upgrading your trusty HDMI cable now is as good a time as any, and Feizlink may just have you covered with their fibre optic HDMI cables.
**The FeizLink 4K Fibre Optic HDMI Cable was reviewed using hardware provided and sent to us by FeizLink, but in no way influenced the review.
Feizlinks new Fibre Optic HDMI cables are divided into two groups; 2.0 and Pro. The 2.0 versions allow for 4K Video at 60 Hz, (2160p, 48 bit/px color depth) and support bandwidth up to 18Gbps, and start at £6.88 for the 1m model.
The Pro variants offer the same 18bps bandwidth and colour depth, but also utilize the latest in optoelectronic technology to transmit HDMI signals without signal loss or delay and the HDMI plugs are 24k gold plated with a zinc alloy casing. The Pro versions are a lot more expensive, starting at £49.09.
For the review, we were sent the 10m Pro cable, but Feizlink offers a pretty diverse range of lengths, for varying prices. I can honestly say this is the most expensive HDMI cable I have used at £59.89, but, buzzwords and marketing aside, it definitely feels like a premium cable.
The build quality is excellent, with the cable itself being very robust, whilst the HDMI plugs/connectors are made of 24k gold plating, with a zinc alloy casing. Feizlink claim that this is much higher than that of aluminum alloy, giving the product a longer service life, but this will remain to be seen.
As mentioned earlier, the FeizLink Fibre Optical HDMI Cable supports bandwidth up to 18Gbps, and Feizlinnk claim the optoelectronic technology used will allow HDMI signals to be sent without signal loss and delay.
To test the latter statement, I ran the FeizLink 4K Fibre Optic HDMI Cable from my Playstation 4 to my Elgato HD60S. - in terms of layout, my PC is on the opposite side to the room to my consoles, not quite 10 meters, so I ran the cable on an alternate route, before getting to the HD60S.
Picture quality was pleasingly good, with no drop out in quality, and everything ran as it would have done on my TV. I then performed the same test, only this time with my Xbox One X, running Forza Horizon 4, and again there was no noticeable changes in terms of quality from the cable. Now, the Elgato HD60S can't capture 4K - it caps out at 1080p - and unfortunately, my 65-inch 4K TV is mounted to the wall, so I wasn't moving that for the test! So instead, I moved the Xbox One X just under 10 meters away, and performed the test straight to the TV, and did the same with the Playstation 4.
With the PS4, the cable performed well, and even the long distance from the TV to the consoles, there was no audio or visual issues, and then even with the higher resolution and frame-rate increase of the Xbox One X there was no issues there either. When Feizlink said there would be no signal loss or delay, they actually meant it.
Now, the average Joe won't need to spend £59.89 on a 10m HDMI cable, no matter how good the quality is, it would be a waste to use it on something that in most homes is barely even 2m away from your TV.
For enthusiasts, however, it opens up a different bag of answers - projectors and home cinemas would benefit greatly from these high-performance cables. Content creators have an easier way of recording gameplay and the like, and if you simply must have the greatest quality cables, then you may also benefit from investing in the FeizLink Fibre Optical HDMI Cable - as mentioned, they do offer a wide array of lengths, their 2m none-pro version is a much more digestible price of £8.88, that whilst isn't made to the same specifications as its 10m Pro brother, still offers HDMI 2.0 specification (4K Video 60 Hz, 2160p, 48 bit/px color depth) and supports bandwidth up to 18Gbps.
It's a hard product to recommend, as it performs the job incredibly well, and does everything it sets out to do - but due to the price, I can only recommend it to a niche market - the smaller variants however, as long as they perform as well, then I can definitely suggest replacing out your old HDMI cables for these premiere variants.
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