Does cable quality make a difference?

Absolutely. A system is only as good as it's weakest component and using poor quality cables can bottleneck the overall performance of your system. Even differences between digital cables are noticable when auditioned on good quality equipment.
How much should I spend on cables?

As with all HiFi the quality of the components should be balanced against each other to acheive optimum results. As a general rule you should be looking to spend between 10% and 20% of your budget on cables. Although many products are supplied with cables in the box these will generally be of minimum specification and should ideally be replaced with specialist alternatives
Do I need 4k certified HDMI cables to run 4k?

Ideally, yes, but some older cables that were manufactured to a high specification may still work. HDMI is best thought of as a data transmission rather than video and as such the acheivable quality is down to the bandwidth of your cables. For basic 4k compatibility a bandwidth of around 10Gbps is required. This specification was introduced as a minimum standard for HDMI-1.4 certification and is capable of 4k resolution up to 24fps with Chroma sampling up to 4:2:2. 4k 50/60fps is not possible at this bandwidth. For the latest full 4k specifications a bandwidth of 18Gbps is required. This was introduced as a minimum standard for HDMI 2.0 and covers 4k resolution at 24/50/60fps up to 4:4:4 Chroma sampling. The longer your cable the more loss your HDMI signal experiences so when using longer cable lengths or installing inside walls and ceilings it is vital that you select a cable that is up to the job as if the data rate is insufficient you may receive no picture at all.

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