CABLE QUALITY

Good cable = good efficiency

"A chain is only as strong as it´s weakest link"

The well know saying shows the importance of high quality cabling in electrical systems. If you sacrifice efficiency in low-end cabling the other devices can not show their capabilities and even the best devices are degraded to low-end. Anyway, you should always check what is needed for your application, not buy the most expensive cable you can find, as it will not always benefit your setup.
A keyboard most certainly will not need a double shielded USB cable to work properly or gold plated contacts, while an external super speed drive in fact does to not fall back to USB 2.0 or even 1.1 speed.
The signal transfer with audio or video applications is one of the most error-intolerant setups of all. Only the use of high quality materials like pure copper conductors and gold plated contacts, the choice of the right diameter as well as a good shielding will ensure a decent audio and video quality.

Let´s have a detailed look on what is important:

Conductor diameter

To show how important the diameter is, is best show by comparing it to a water tap: The larger the diameter, the more water can flow. With the cable: A large diameter will ensure a smooth signal transmission. But because more diameter comes at a higher price, the word is: As thick a necessary, but as thin as possible. The smallest possible diameter is linked to some specifics like: The higher the quality of the conductor, the lower the power to be transmitted, the higher the speaker impedance with audiosignals and the shorter the cable the thinner the diameter can be. The diameter is measured in AWG (AWG = American Wire Gauge) will determine the conductors diameter and the allowed attenuation, where a lower AWG value represents a larger diameter and therefore better capabilities.

Material

Effectiveness and useability of a cable are determined by the used material. Copper wires offer most advantages over other types of conductor material. The are flexible and very strong. They corrode very slowly and have a high lifetime. Copper cladded aluminium (CCA) cables, which are to be inspected more closely in the "Speaker cable section" provide the best price-value ratio.
Optical cables are mostly designed with fiber conductors. It is non corroding, features high tolerance against EM or other external noise and has no resistance. Optical cables are able to transport many times more data with the same diameter compared to copper cables.

Mantle

The mantle protects the inner conductors from mechanical stress and enviromental influences like moisture, dirt or chemical substances. It also protects humans from dangerous voltages or light pulses and even protects the cable from rodents.
The halogen free mantle honors the fire protection and safety guidelines. An important feature within building installations. The plugs need to offer high and steady signal flow capabilities. Gold with it´s smooth and soft surface as well as non corroding features a good choice for the contact area.
The best cable is worth nothing if the contact area is the weak link in the chain as it will degrade the overall quality. This is where low-end and high-end are separated.

Shielding

Cable are transporting energy in the shape of light or electricity. They are influenced by external EM fields like a rining cell phone. Cable shielding will protect the signal travelling inside the cable. The shielding is made of metal foil or wire mesh. The wire pairs or the whole cable can be shielded - high quality cables use both techniques to ensure maximum shielding. If you do not shield e.g. ethernet cables many data packets have to be sent more than one or are lost at all (like with streaming UDP data) and introduce a lower data rate or stuttering of the e.g. video playback. Rule of thumb: The better the shielding the better the signal transmission.

The following patch cable is certified to comply to this high quality by a test protocol.

Ferrite chokes

USB cables are only one setup for ferrite chokes to keep the signal from distorting. They are best used with high power devices without own power supply like 2.5" drives to smooth out signal distortions introduced by hubs or long cables.