AudioQuest ThunderBird 48G HDMI Cable

AudioQuest ThunderBird 48G HDMI Cable

Sound first. While 8K and other compelling videos/gaming features make the HDMI headlines, AudioQuest’s 48 and eARC-Priority Series HDMI cables are their best-sounding HDMI cables yet.

The greater precision and tighter manufacturing tolerances required to deliver HDMI cables that transfer up to 48Gbps bandwidth mean all of AudioQuest’s tried-and-true ingredients and techniques matter every bit as much as ever before.

ThunderBird 48 features 10% Silver-Plated Copper conductors and drains that have been direction-controlled for the most efficient dissipation of radio-frequency noise; high-loss graphene is added to the carbon layer, sandwiched between layers of metal around the 4 FRL + eARC pairs, and a "global" high-loss carbon layer is placed around all conductors.

All of AudioQuest’s new 48Gbps HDMI cables can transfer up to professional 10K Ultra-HD video. The impressive 48Gbps data rate is made possible by four balanced audio/video pairs capable of 12Gbps each. And, of course, the latest technology is backwards compatible with 4K displays.

Features :

• Solid 10% Silver Conductors
• Level 5 Noise Disippation - Graphene Layer, Global Carbon Layers & Direction Controlled
• Solid 10% Silver eARC Conductors
• All 19 conductors are Direction-Controlled (A/V, eARC, Ground-Reference Drains, Control, Power)
• All 48G cables up to 5m have the bandwidth required for video with resolutions up to 10k, including 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz

Solid 10% Silver Conductors

In AudioQuest HDMI cables, increasingly thick layers of silver plating are applied to AudioQuest’s Long-Grain Copper (LGC) conductors to improve Noise-Dissipation. Placing the superior metal on the outside of the conductor produces the greatest benefit on overall performance—a superbly cost-effective way to maximize a digital cable. ThunderBird 48 uses 10% Silver-Plated Copper for both its conductors and drains.

Level 5 Noise Dissipation: Graphene + Global Carbon + Directionality

Traditional “100% shielding” is not enough to guard against the increasingly prevalent effects of Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite radiation. In AudioQuest HDMI cables, all 19 conductors are Direction-Controlled to minimize the RF Noise that damages performance by “directing” or draining it away from the most vulnerable circuits. In Level 5 Noise-Dissipation, high-loss graphene is added to the carbon layer sandwiched between layers of metal around the 4 FRL + eARC pairs, and a "global" high-loss carbon layer is placed around all conductors.

48G HDMI Cables from AudioQuest

AudioQuest “48” HDMI cables can transfer up to professional 10K Ultra-HD video. The 48Gbps bandwidth is made possible by 4 balanced audio/video pairs capable of 12Gbps each. The precision and tighter manufacturing tolerances required to produce HDMI cables that transfer up to 48Gbps bandwidth mean many of AudioQuest’s tried-and-true ingredients and techniques are more important than ever before.

HDR (High Dynamic Range)

All AudioQuest HDMI cables support HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Dynamic HDR. HDR content expands the contrast of the image for blacker blacks and brighter whites/highlights as well as greater colour saturation and brightness. In addition, 4K Ultra-HD content allows for a wider colour range.

This combination of technologies results in more realistic HDR images with greater perceived depth. Dynamic HDR (HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, for example) enables frame-by-frame HDR optimization rather than HDR settings that are fixed for the entire program. The most prominent current HDR formats are HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision.

AudioQuest 18Gbps and 48Gbps HDMI cables are compatible with all varieties of HDR, which can be found on Ultra-HD Blu-ray, and all major streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, and others.

eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel)

HDMI’s Audio Return Channel (ARC) sends audio from a TV to a soundbar or AV receiver for greater simplicity and flexibility in system setup. Hardware’s previous ARC capabilities max out at lossy (compressed) 5.1-channel surround sound.

Today’s HDMI 2.1 hardware supports enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), which increases the digital bandwidth dramatically to support uncompressed and lossless high-resolution multichannel audio, including Dolby TrueHD and Atmos, and DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS: X.

Not only do all current generations of AudioQuest HDMI cables have the conductors and bandwidth required for eARC’s enhanced sonic capabilities, but, in order to ensure superior audio performance, the ARC-channel conductor-pair is internally controlled for direction, running in the opposite direction from the 4 pairs that carry information to the TV.

Finally, AudioQuest’s eARC-Priority models include 4 Silver-Plated Forest 48-level audio/video data pairs—but with a far superior single data pair for the TV’s audio output. By upgrading the ARC data path only, audiophile quality is made possible at a fraction of the cost of upgrading all 5 data pairs.

Specification :

• 48Gbps bandwidth - supports up to 10k resolutions
• Solid 10% Silver A/V Conductors
• Solid 10% Silver eARC Conductors
• 10% Silver Ground Reference Drain
• Graphene Layer, Global Carbon Layer & Direction-Controlled Noise-Dissipation
• Blue Braided Outer Jacket - 0.6m to 3m only
• CMG (CL3/FT4) Outer Jacket - 5m Length
• Limited Lifetime Warranty

About AudioQuest

AudioQuest has been the largest cable supplier to the high-end specialist market for many years. AudioQuest is sold in several hundred outlets in the US and in over sixty countries. Bill Lowe (Founder) is especially pleased that this success has been possible despite his insistence that the foundation of the company, and the foundation of AudioQuest marketing, must be the performance of the product. In the audio world, many professionals have learned that it is not always convenient to listen to the products they sell … they might learn something they don’t want to know! Bill has always understood the challenge of basing the existence of AudioQuest on the performance of the product. However, to Bill, this is the only reasonable way to do business and the only acceptable way to combine his passion for music (and all things high performance), with his need to make a living.